THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/colonialmansionsOOhammiala 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF 
MARYLAND  AND  DELAWARE 


THIS  LIMITED  EDITION  HAS  BEEN  PRINTED 
FROM   TYPE  AND   THE   TYPE  DISTRIBUTED 


COL^  AMAL  MANSIONS 

O^  YLAND  AND 

1)1      vWARE 


»\ 


JOHN    MARTIN    HAMMOND 


rif»  $f«fr--ffiv$  n  lasTRATioMS 


illiA    &    LO 
'  *   OTT    COM 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS 

OF  MARYLAND  AND 

DELAWARE 


BY 


JOHN   MARTIN   HAMMOND 


WITH  SIXTY-FIVE  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PHILADELPHIA    ^    LONDON 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY 

1914 


COPYRIGHT,  1914,  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


PUBLISHED  SEPTEMBER.  1914 


PRINTED  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,  U.  S.  A. 


•Mm  Ptaagtn 


r 

PREFACE  HZ^ 


Some  people  collect  old  furniture,  some  old  books. 
I  for  many  years  have  been  a  collector  of  old  houses 
within  easy  travelling  distance  of  my  home  in  Balti- 
more, and  the  best  of  my  finds  are  to  be  found  in  this 
book.  He  who  would  collect  old  houses  must  possess 
much  enthusiasm,  a  determination  that  will  not  be  dis- 
couraged, and  a  fine  power  of  walking.  Fully  one-half 
of  the  points  that  he  visits  because  of  hearsay  will  be 
found  to  be  without  interest,  and  of  the  others  that  he 
seeks  out  only  a  few  insignificant  facts  will  at  first  be 
ascertainable.  A  continual  source  of  surprise  to  one  who 
searches  for  colonial  homes  is  how  little  is  known  about 
them  even  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  in  which 
they  have  stood  for  so  many  years. 

The  material  in  this  book  has  been  gathered  from 
personal  visits  and  studies  at  first  hand  of  the  houses 
described.  Much  of  the  literary  matter  has  come  from 
private  papers  and  from  the  recollections  of  the  older 
generation  of  the  descendants  of  builders  of  Maryland 
and  Delaware  mansions.  The  photographs  I  have  made 
myself.  I  wish  to  make  acknowledgment  of  inspira- 
tion and  help  gained  from  certain  indefatigable  workers 
in  history,  whose  researches  have  gone  into  almost  every 
nook  of  the  field  in  Maryland  and  Delaware.  Any  one 
who  delves  into  Maryland  archives  will  be  sure  to  come 
across  the  path  of  Mrs.  Hester  Dorsey  Richardson,  one 
of  the  first  authorities  on  Maryland  genealogy.    Much 


PREFACE 


of  the  available  data  of  the  history  of  Maryland  and 
Delaware  will  be  found  in  the  voluminous  writings  of 
John  Thomas  Scharff,  particularly  in  his  "  History  of 
Maryland  "  and  his  "  History  of  Delaware."  No  more 
complete  sectional  history  was  ever  published  than 
Joshua  D.  War  field's  *'  Founders  of  Howard  and 
Anne  Arundel  Counties."  The  annals  of  Southern 
Maryland  have  been  gathered  together  and  told  in  a 
most  scholarly  fashion  by  James  Walter  Thomas  in 
*'  Chronicles  of  Saint  Mary's  County." 

In  the  making  of  this  book  I  have  had  certain  def- 
inite ends.  I  wished  to  call  attention,  first,  to  the  many 
beautiful  colonial  survivals  to  be  found  in  Maryland 
and  Delaware.  Then  through  the  photography  and  re- 
production of  certain  architectural  details  (such  as,  in 
particular,  doorways),  I  have  hoped  to  bring  sugges- 
tion to  those  about  to  build  homes  of  the  present  day. 
Finally  I  have  laid  some  stress  on  family  history  that 
the  descendants  of  old  families  in  the  two  States  might 
feel  an  especially  close  drawing  to  these  shrines  of  the 
life  of  yesterday. 

The  work  of  gathering  together  the  photographs  and 
data  presented  in  the  following  pages  has  meant  much 
tramping,  buggy  riding  and  boating, — the  first  a  no 
light  task  with  a  fifteen  pound  camera, — but  it  has  been 
a  labor  of  love.  I  wish  to  acknowledge  the  valuable 
assistance  of  my  friend,  Michael  Warner  Hewes,  Jr., 
in  the  preparation  of  several  of  my  chapters,  particu- 
larly those  relating  to  Eastern  Shore  points. 

Baltimore,  Md.,  "•  -'^"  -H* 

July,  1914. 


CONTENTS 


MARYLAND 

PAOB 

CHASE  HOUSE ANNAPOLIS 15 

Fajulies:    Chase,  Llotd,  Hahwood,  Ridout 

HAMMOND  or  HARWOOD  HOUSE.  .ANNAPOLIS 27 

Families:    Hammond,  Pinknet,  Chase,  Lockebman,  Habwood 

PAC  A  HOUSE ANNAPOLIS S6 

Families:    Paca,  Schaaf,  Neth,  Bland,  Kennedy,  Swann 

BRICE  HOUSE ANNAPOLIS 45 

Families:    Brice,  Stephen,  Mabtin,  Robb 

RIDOUT  HOUSE ANNAPOLIS 60 

Family:    Ridotjt 

SCOTT  HOUSE ANNAPOLIS 68 

Families:    Scott,  Key,  Bibney,  Claude,  Sisters  of  Mebcy,  Sistebs 
OF  N6tre  Dame 

BORDLEY  or  RANDALL  HOUSE ...  ANNAPOLIS 72 

Families:    Bobdley,  Randall 

WHITEHALL SANDY  POINT,   ANNE  ARUN- 
DEL COUNTY 77 

Families:    Shabpe,  Ridout,  Stoby 

MONTPELIER LAUREL,    PRINCE    GEORGE'S 

COUNTY 88 

Families:    Snowden,     Jenkins,     Taylob,     Blakeman,     Pendleton, 
Von  Schbadeb. 

OAKLANDS CONTEE     STATION,     PRINCE 

GEORGE'S  COUNTY 96 

Families:    Snowden,  Contee,  Bolling,  Hooff 

BURLEIGH HOWARD  COUNTY 105 

Family:    Hammond 

DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR HOWARD  COUNTY 110 

Family:    Cabboll 

HAMPTON BALTIMORE  COUNTY 131 

Family:    Ridgely 

vii 


CONTENTS 


TULIP  HILL WEST  RIVER,  ANNE  ARUNDEL 

COUNTY 138 

Families:    Galloway,  Maxcet,  Mabkoe,  Hughes,  Murray,  Parker 

CEDAR  PARK WEST  RIVER,  ANNE  ARUNDEL 

COUNTY 144 

Families:    Galloway,  Sfbigg,  Mercer,  Murray 

RATCLIFFE  MANOR NEAR        EASTON.        TALBOT 

COUNTY 148 

Families:    Hollyday,  Gibson,  Hathaway 

WYE  HOUSE TALBOT  COUNTY 162 

Family:    Lloyd 

READBOURNE QUEEN  ANNE'S  COUNTY 161 

Families:    Hollyday,  Perry 

BELMONT HOWARD  COUNTY 166 

Families:    Dorsey,  Hanson 

MOUNT  AIRY CROOME,    PRINCE   GEORGE'S 

COUNTY 184 

Families:    Calvert,  Duvall 

BELAIR PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY..  199 

Families:    Ogle,  Bowie,  Woodward 

BLAKEFORD QUEEN  ANNE'S  COUNTY 205 

Families:    DeCourcy,  Blake,  Wright,  Thom 

BLOOMINGDALE QUEEN  ANNE'S  COUNTY 211 

Families:    Harris,  Wallis,  Dudley 

MONTMORENCI BALTIMORE  COUNTY 216 

Famiues:    Worthington,  Conrad,  Lehr 

BELVOIR ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY. ...  219 

Famiues:    Ross,  Maynadier,  Worthington,  Poluyanski 

PLAIN  DEALING TALBOT  COUNTY 225 

Families:    Chamberlaine,  Lockerman,  Hardcastle 

BEVERLY SOMERSET  COUNTY 232 

Family:    Dennis 

viii 


CONTENTS 


SOTTERLY ST.  MARY'S  COUNTY 235 

Families:   Bowles,  Plateb,  Bbiscoe,  Satterlee 

DEEP  FALLS ST.  MARY'S  COUNTY 240 

Family:   Thomas 

DELAWARE 

AMSTEL  HOUSE NEW  CASTLE 247 

Families:    Van  Dtke,  Moodt,  Bxhinham,  Hat 

DICKINSON  HOUSE KENT  COUNTY 251 

Families:    Dickinson,  Logan 

KENSEY  JOHNS  HOUSE NEW  CASTLE 255 

Families:   Johns,  Stockton,  Mookb 

LOOCKERMAN  HOUSE DOVER 257 

Famiues:  Loockehman,  Bradfoed,  Culbreth 

READ  HOUSE NEW  CASTLE 264 

Families:    Read,  Couper,  Smith 

RIDGELY  HOUSE DOVER 266 

Family:    Ridgely 

STEWART  HOUSE NEW  CASTLE 291 

Families:    Van  Dyke,  Dtr  Pont,  Janvier,  Lambson,  Stewart 

THOMAS  HOUSE NEW  CASTLE 293 

Families:    Thomas,  Read,  Thomas 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


MARYLAND 

PAQB 

WHITEHALL                                                ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY 
Exterior Frontispiece 

ST.  PAUL'S  RECTORY  BALTIMORE 

Exterior 6 

STEMMER  HOUSE                                               BALTIMORE  COUNTY 
Exterior 10 

CHASE  HOUSE  ANNAPOLIS 

Entrance 16 

Shutter  Carvino 18 

Palladian  Window 22 

HAMMOND  HOUSE  ANNAPOLIS 

Entrance 30 

Sofa  of  American  Empire  Period 32 

PACA  HOUSE                                                                           ANNAPOLIS 
Exterior 40 

BRICE  HOUSE  ANNAPOLIS 

Mantel  in  Drawing-Room 46 

Exterior 50 

RIDOUT  HOUSE  ANNAPOLIS 

Entrance 64 

SCOTT  HOUSE  ANNAPOLIS 

Exterior 68 

Entrance  Hall 70 

WHITEHALL  ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY 

From  the  Garden 78 

Entrance  to  Pajrlour 80 

Entrance,  Interior  Carving 82 

MONTPELIER  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY 

Rear  View 90 

Summer  House.  ., 94 

Garden 94 

xi 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


OAKLANDS  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY 

China  Cupboabd 98 

Staibway 98 

BURLEIGH  HOWARD  COUNTY 

exteriob 106 

Garden  Entrance 108 

DOUGHOREGAN  HOWARD  COUNTY 

From  the  Rear 114 

Garden  Entrance 120 

HOMEWOOD  BALTIMORE 

Exterior 122 

HAMPTON  BALTIMORE  COUNTY 

Central  Portion 132 

Cupola 134 

SPRING  HILL  HOWARD  COUNTY 

Exterior 134 

TULIP  HILL  ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY 

Entrance 138 

Garden  Entrance 140 

Hall  and  Stair 142 

RATCLIFFE  TALBOT  COUNTY 

Shell  Cupboard 148 

Alcove  Window 148 

Garden  Entrance 150 

From  the  Garden 150 

BELMONT  HOWARD  COUNTY 

Exterior 168 

Entrance 178 

MOUNT  AIRY  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY 

Exterior 188 

RIVERDALE  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY 

Exterior 192 

MOUNT  AIRY  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY 

Fireplace  in  Dining-Room 196 

The  Sideboard 196 

xii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


BELAIR  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY 

Central  Portion 200 

From  the  Terrace 202 

Main  Stairway 202 

BLAKEFORD  QUEEN  ANNE'S  COUNTY 

All-the-Year-Rottnd  Sxjmmer  House 206 

From  the  East 206 

BLOOMINGDALE  QUEEN  ANNE'S  COUNTY 

Exterior 212 

Side  Porch 214 

STEMMER  HOUSE  BALTIMORE  COUNTY 

Garden  Entrance 214 

MONTMORENCI  BALTIMORE  COUNTY 

Exterior 216 

The  Winding  Stair 216 

Parlour  Corner 216 

BELVOIR  ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY 

Entrance 220 

From  the  South 222 

DELAWARE 

AMSTEL  HOUSE  NEW  CASTLE 

Entrance 248 

KENSEY  JOHNS  HOUSE  NEW  CASTLE 

Exterior 254 

RODNEY  HOUSE                                                                 NEW  CASTLE 
Exterior 256 

LOOCKERMAN  HOUSE  DOVER 

The  Stairway 260 

A  Corner  Cupboard 260 

RIDGELY  HOUSE  DOVER 

Exterior 268 

From  the  Garden 272 

Parlour  Corner 280 

THOMAS  HOUSE  NEW  CASTLE 

Entrance 292 


^'i 


INTRODUCTION 


The  scattered  survivals  of  the  colonial  era  of  home 
building  in  Maryland  and  Delaware  have  certain  great 
similarities  of  construction,  but  they  are  more  closely 
bound  together  by  ties  of  blood  than  by  architectural 
detail.  The  colonial  mansions  of  the  latter  little  Com- 
monwealth show  decided  evidence  of  Dutch  influence  in 
their  construction,  while  those  of  the  former  present 
probably  as  pure  examples  as  will  be  found  of  the  Eng- 
lish adaptation  of  the  classic  motive  in  building,  which 
forms  the  backbone  of  the  Georgian  school.  Side  by 
side  however,  geographically  speaking,  the  eastern 
shore  of  Maryland  and  the  whole  of  little  Delaware 
being  isolated  by  the  Delaware  and  Chesapeake  bays, 
the  two  States  are  very  closely  connected  genealogically. 
The  Ridgely,  Loockermann,  and  Johns  families,  to  men- 
tion only  a  few,  have  branches  in  both  States  and  have 
been  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  each. 

One  great  distinction  between  the  colonial  homes 
of  Maryland  and  Delaware  relates  to  the  comparatively 
unimportant  matter  of  size.  The  homes  of  Maryland 
are  of  much  bolder  conception  than  those  of  Delaware. 
There  are  many  reasons  for  this,  but  on  the  surface  it  is 
apparent  that  Delaware,  with  its  unsettled  early  days — 
founded  by  the  Dutch,  wrangled  over  by  the  Swedes, 
and  finally  wrested  from  both  of  these  nationalities  by 
the  strong  hand  of  the  English — would  not  attract  as 
wealthy  a  class  of  settler  as  Maryland,  nor  would  its 


INTRODUCTION 


people  spring  from  a  stock  with  as  imperative  a  tradi- 
tion of  luxurious  living  as  those  of  the  cavalier  life  in 
the  Southern  State.  In  point  of  charm  and  historic 
interest,  however,  one  finds  as  much  to  please  the 
imagination  and  the  eye  in  the  homes  of  Delaware  as  in 
those  of  any  other  State  of  the  Union. 

A  characteristic  architectural  development  of  colonial 
Maryland  is  the  wing.  This  is  not  typical  of  the 
colonial  homes  of  Delaware.  Maryland  was  essen- 
tially a  slave-holding  and  tobacco-growing  colony  and 
the  wing  was  a  creation  designed  to  meet  the  double 
demand  for  a  place  to  house  the  house-servants  near  at 
hand  and  for  an  office  close  to  the  dwelling-house  from 
which  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  plantation.  At  first 
these  demands  were  met  by  a  small  isolated  structure 
close  to  the  big  house.  Then  came  a  covered  passage- 
way from  the  house.  Finally  the  wing  as  a  concrete 
part  of  the  whole  became  an  accepted  convention. 

In  both  Maryland  and  Delaware,  as  well  as  Penn- 
sylvania, brick  was  the  favorite  material  used  for  build- 
ing. Incidentally  in  New  England  frame  was  usual. 
Yet  stone  and  brick  were  plentiful  in  New  England,  and 
wood  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  Just  why  there 
should  be  this  characteristic  and  undeniable  difference 
in  choice  of  building  stuff  is  one  of  those  things  "  no 
fellow  hopes  to  know."  Temperamental  variances 
would  seem  to  be  a  better  explanation,  even  though  a 
somewhat  ambiguous  one,  than  an  attempt  to  blame  it 

2 


INTRODUCTION 


on  the  climate ;  for  wood  is  certainly  a  less  appropriate 
building  stuff  for  a  cold  northerly  climate  than  stone. 

The  homes  of  Maryland  and  Delaware  were  always 
built  on  a  navigable  water-course  and  usually  with  the 
front  of  the  house  toward  the  water.  There  were  good 
reasons  for  this.  Our  ancestors  did  not  have  good  roads 
and  they  were  not  especially  fond  of  walking.  Again 
the  water-courses  were  safer  routes  of  travel  than  the 
forests  where  hostile  savages  might  do  mischief.  As 
late  as  1750,  indeed,  the  fear  of  Indian  attack  had  not 
left  Annapolis,  the  capital  of  Maryland.  Follow  the 
Delaware  up  from  the  Atlantic  and  diverge  into  almost 
any  of  the  tributaries  of  this  body  fifty  miles  or  so  above 
its  mouth,  and  you  will  find  the  colonial  houses  of  Dela- 
ware. Penetrate  into  southern  Maryland  by  the  Pa- 
tuxent  or  go  up  the  Severn  upon  which  Annapolis  was 
situated  and  in  these  reaches  of  land  will  be  found  the 
colonial  mansions  of  Maryland. 

The  period  of  fine  home  building  in  Maryland  and 
Delaware  extended  from  about  1735  to  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  It  was  not  until  the  beginning  of 
this  stretch  of  time  that  a  really  wealthy  class  had  been 
developed  in  either  of  the  two  colonies.  Now  the  planter 
came  into  his  own.  His  acres  were  a  "  going  concern," 
a  concern  that  probably  paid  larger  dividends  in  pro- 
portion than  the  great  bulk  of  those  commercial  ventures 
which  have  been  born  in  the  present  day.  His  own  work 
was  little  more  than  casual  supervision;  two  or  three 

3 


INTRODUCTION 


months  in  the  year  he  would  devote  to  the  planting  and 
the  cutting,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  was  his  own,  over- 
seers taking  the  mass  of  small  details  from  his  shoulders. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  he  began  to  build  himself  a 
beautiful  home,  that  Annapolis  in  Maryland  and  Dover 
and  New  Castle  in  Delaware  became  social  capitals,  and 
that  the  lawyer  class — made  up  chiefly  of  leisured  men 
— attained  that  brilliance  of  forensic  and  intellectual 
achievement  which  was  characteristic  of  the  bar  of  these 
two  States  before  the  Revolution. 

The  typical  Maryland  colonial  mansion,  using  this 
word  to  mean  a  pretentious  dwelling,  was  a  large  central 
building  with  wings,  surrounded  by  a  number  of  smaller 
dwellings  for  servants  and  overseers.  It  was  usually 
two  stories  in  height  and  occasionally,  though  very 
rarely,  three,  and  it  was  made  after  designs  sent  from 
London. 

This  interesting  question  as  to  who  were  the  archi- 
tects of  the  Maryland  and  Delaware  houses  has  received 
investigation  from  the  late  T.  Henry  Randall,  of  the 
Randall  House,  Annapolis,  Maryland,  an  aged  man  at 
his  death  several  years  ago,  an  architect  himself,  and  a 
life-long  resident  in  the  traditions  of  the  aristocratic 
ancient  city,  and  his  opinion  expressed  several  times  in 
his  writings  and  in  his  conversation  coincided  with  the 
last  sentence  above.  The  planter  was  his  own  architect 
and  builder,  securing  his  plans  from  good  authorities 
in  England  and  patiently  and  carefully  following  them 


INTRODUCTION 


after  they  were  secured.  The  reputation  for  smartness 
and  fashionableness  of  Annapolis  just  before  the  Revo- 
lution drew  to  it  some  architects  from  the  other  side  of 
the  water,  but  they  were  never  numerically  a  large  class. 
A  book  of  designs  from  which  many  of  the  old  doorways 
and  interior  details  of  the  mansions  of  Maryland  and 
Delaware  were  evidently  copied  is  to  be  found,  among 
other  places,  in  the  British  Museum  in  London  and 
bears  the  title,  "  The  British  Architects  or  Builders 
Treasury,  by  Abraham  Swan,  Architect.  London, 
MDCCVII."  It  was  from  such  sources  as  this  that  our 
forefathers  drew  their  inspirations. 

Even  in  the  town  houses  in  Annapolis,  where  space 
was  more  confined,  the  buildings  retained  their  wings 
and  their  aspect  of  generosity  of  mass,  the  chief  differ- 
ence between  town  and  country  being  that  in  the  country 
there  were  more  out-buildings.  Each  plantation  house 
was  its  own  store,  as  the  merchant  class  in  Maryland 
was  small  and  each  house  had  a  private  wharf  where 
goods  were  received  from  vessels  from  Europe.  The 
greater  planters  owned  the  schooners  in  which  barter 
was  carried  on  with  the  mother  country. 

The  decoration  of  the  homes  was  done  by  hand  by 
intelligent  servants  trained  to  the  work  or  by  those 
artisans  whom  chance,  misfortune,  or  adventure  sent 
to  the  New  World. 

Despite  the  mildness  of  the  climate  in  Maryland 
and  Delaware  and  the  severity  of  the  summers  the 

5 


INTRODUCTION 


houses  were  built  without  piazzas.  Sometimes  there 
would  be  a  covered  stoop  at  the  entrance,  but  the  Eng- 
lish tradition  in  this  regard  was  carefully  followed.  It 
was  not  until  after  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
that  the  porch  as  a  place  of  sufficient  size  for  the  family 
to  take  the  air  was  introduced.  The  grounds  around 
the  houses  were  almost  always  carefully  terraced  and, 
usually,  toward  the  river.  This  gave  a  splendid  space 
on  which  to  stroll  of  humid  evenings,  and  summer- 
houses  in  the  gardens  were  very  common. 

A  distinguishing  feature  of  the  builders  of  the 
colonial  mansions  in  both  Maryland  and  Delaware 
seems  to  have  been  their  love  of  gardens.  After  the 
planter  had  built  his  house,  he  always  chose  a  sunny 
spot  of  ground  to  devote  to  flowers  and  box-bushes, 
these  latter  guarding  the  sides  of  formally  planned 
gravel  walks. 

Just  how  long  did  it  take  our  forefathers  to  build 
one  of  these  homes?  Probably  about  four  years  on  the 
average  if  there  was  no  interruption.  We  know  that  two 
years  after  the  Chase  House  in  Annapolis,  Maryland, 
was  started  the  outside  of  the  house  was  completed. 
Skilled  labor  was  scarce  and  the  builders  of  those  days 
did  their  work  with  a  care  and  a  regard  to  permanence 
which  does  not  mark  all  modern  home  erection.  The 
timbers  of  Tulip  Hill,  West  River,  Maryland,  are  heavy 
enough  for  the  keel  of  a  large  ship,  and  the  thick  walls 
of  the  quaint  Ridgely  House,  Dover,  Delaware,  would 


o 


■^•ra     


ST.  PAUL'S  RECTORY,  BALTIMORE 
1794 


INTRODUCTION 


make  a  whole  city  block  of  two-story  modern  brick 
houses. 

When  our  forefathers  built  a  fine  house  how  much 
did  it  cost  them?  The  Chase  House,  Annapolis,  when 
almost  completed  was  sold  by  Samuel  Chase  for  nearly 
five  hundred  pounds  sterling,  of  Great  Britain,  and 
twenty-four  hundred  pounds  current,  while  the  purchase 
price  for  the  lot  on  which  the  house  stood  was  one 
hundred  pounds  sterling.  When  Ninian  Pinkney  sold 
his  beautiful  home  opposite  the  Chase  House  to  Jere- 
miah Townely  Chase  in  1811,  the  consideration  was 
three  thousand,  five  hundred  dollars,  of  the  United 
States  mint,  the  purchasing  power  of  a  dollar  being 
much  greater  then  than  now.  Whatever  our  fore- 
fathers' homes  may  have  cost  them  when  new,  it  is 
lamentably  true  that  until  very  recent  years  many  of 
them  were  sold  for  the  proverbial  song,  and  rag-time 
at  that. 

Of  nearly  every  old  house  that  one  visits,  it  is 
proudly  asserted  that  the  bricks  were  brought  over  from 
England,  usually  as  ballast  for  the  ship  it  is  said,  or  as 
the  result  of  a  direct  order  for  such  a  commodity.  This 
is  a  tradition  that  seems  to  have  no  settled  home.  It 
can  be  heard  in  Maryland,  Pennsylvania  and  Georgia, 
yet  there  is  not  a  single  bill  of  lading  recorded  in  Mary- 
land which  shows  brick  as  an  item  of  import,  and  the 
only  pertinent  information  in  the  author's  possession 


INTRODUCTION 


upon  this  moot  question  is  the  recollection  of  certain 
members  of  the  Snowden  family  of  Maryland  of  having 
seen  passages  in  old  letters  that  referred  to  brick  having 
been  brought  from  England  for  the  building  of  Birm- 
ingham. These  letters  were  destroyed  by  the  fire  which 
carried  away  this  beautiful  manor  house.  The  fire  did 
not  destroy  the  brick  in  entirety  and,  to  be  sure,  they 
are  of  size  and  texture  not  resembling  any  other  old 
brick  in  Maryland.  It  would  seem  that  as  a  rule,  how- 
ever, the  popular  tradition  of  imported  brick  is  without 
foundation,  though  one  hesitates  to  contravene  a  general 
opinion  so  well  established.  But  the  colonists  needed 
more  important  things  from  England  than  brick  to 
ballast  a  ship,  and  there  was  good  clay  in  this  country. 
Governor  Sharpe  had  his  own  brick-yard  to  assist  in 
the  building  of  Whitehall,  Maryland.  It  is  probable 
that  the  planters  as  a  class  were  their  own  brick-makers. 
Around  the  old  homes  of  Maryland  and  Delaware 
hang  many  traditions  often  scattered  to  various  quarters 
to  be  gathered  together  one  by  one.  Sometimes  one 
finds  a  beautiful  colonial  homestead  which  seems  to 
strive  terribly  to  unfold  to  you  the  story  of  its  past  but 
for  which  you  miss  just  the  word  which  will  make  all 
intelligible  to  you.  There  comes  to  mind  in  this  con- 
nection the  Stemmer  House,  near  Baltimore,  about 
which  records  cannot  be  found  to  connect  its  history 
from  its  erection  just  before  the  Revolution  by  the  man 


INTRODUCTION 


from  whom  it  took  its  name  with  its  acquisition  not  long 
after  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  by  Robert 
Howard.  It  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Miss  Sallie 
Hays,  the  grand-daughter  of  Robert  Howard,  and 
lately  housed,  also,  the  family  of  Miss  Hays's  cousin, 
Mrs.  E.  B.  Hall.  This  old  homestead  is  one  of  the 
finest  examples  of  colonial  architecture  in  Maryland, 
and  yet  it  is  to  be  doubted  if  more  than  two  dozen  people 
outside  of  its  immediate  neighborhood  know  of  its  exist- 
ence. It  consists  of  a  central  building  with  wings, 
though  the  wings  are  not  developed  to  the  full  type 
which  marked  most  of  the  homes  of  Maryland  of  this 
period.  It  is  large,  and  contains  very  beautiful  interior 
carving.  The  stairway  which  leads  from  the  rear  of 
the  usual  central  hall  is  of  notable  grace,  winding  to 
the  second  floor  in  an  airy  curve  with  a  window  lighting 
its  course  midway  and  with  hardwood  stairs  and  with 
slender  mahogany  pilasters.  In  its  general  design  it 
resembles  the  stair  of  Montmorenci,  the  Worthington 
homestead  in  the  Worthington  Valley,  Maryland. 

The  builder  of  this  mansion,  it  has  been  asserted, 
was  a  sea-captain  who  was  so  wedded  to  the  ways  of  the 
sea  that  he  had  a  hammock  slung  in  his  bedroom  on  the 
second  floor  and  slept  in  this  in  preference  to  a  bed- 
stead which  a  land-lubber  might  have  chosen.  In  proof 
of  this,  two  large  hooks  are  shown  you  in  this  room 
from  which  a  hammock  might  have  been  slung.     The 


INTRODUCTION 


grounds  around  the  house  were  carefully  terraced  and 
in  the  rear  was  a  garden. 

The  era  of  fine  home  building  in  Maryland  reached 
its  finest  flower  in  Annapolis,  as  would  be  supposed  from 
the  social  pre-eminence  of  this  little  capital,  just  before 
the  Revolution.  In  southern  Maryland,  the  scene  of 
the  original  settlement  of  the  State,  are  to  be  found 
homes  even  antedating  the  Georgian  period  of  building, 
some  very  pretentious  and  all  equally  difiicult  of  access 
because  of  the  poor  railroad  facilities  of  this  part  of 
the  State.  Among  the  charming  homes  in  Saint 
Mary's  County,  IMaryland,  of  which  an  extended  story 
has  not  been  told  in  the  body  of  the  book  are:  Tudor 
Hall,  Mrs.  Joseph  H.  Key's  place;  Ellenborough,  an- 
other Key  house;  Cremona,  which  has  been  inherited 
by  Miss  Eliza  Thomas,  of  Baltimore;  Saint  Cuthbert's, 
the  home  of  Mrs.  Walter  Briscoe;  and  Portobello, 
opposite  the  historic  town-site  of  St.  JNIary's,  now  the 
possession  of  Mrs.  Hyatt. 

There  may  be  mentioned,  too.  Rose  Hill,  Chancel- 
lor's Hope  and  Pamonky,  in  Charles  County;  Rane- 
lagh,  the  Contee  place,  Brookefield,  Poplar  Hill,  Bald 
Eagle,  the  Waring  homestead,  Acquasco  and  JVIatta- 
poni,  in  Prince  George's  County;  the  Hermitage  in 
Queen  Anne's  County;  Plimhimmon  and  Myrtle  Grove 
in  Talbot  County;  the  Lee  House,  Rehoboth,  in  Dor- 
chester County;  Success  Farm,  in  Cecil  County;  the 

10 


INTRODUCTION 


Dairy  Farm,  the  Hall  homestead,  in  Harford  County. 
All  of  these  places  were  in  preservation  a  few  years  ago. 

Among  the  interesting  colonial  homes  in  Delaware 
not  treated  fully  in  the  text  are:  Belmont  Hall,  near 
Smyrna;  the  Wilson  House  and  the  Corbit  House  at 
Odessa;  and  the  Cowgill  House  at  Dover.  The  Cowgill 
House  has  been  very  well  described  in  a  novel  popular 
twenty  years  ago,  "  The  Entailed  Hat." 

A  long  chapter  might  be  written  of  the  beautiful 
colonial  homes  in  Maryland  and  Delaware  which  have 
passed  away  in  the  memory  of  the  last  generation. 

In  some  of  the  colonial  places  of  these  two  States 
life  is  lived  in  a  state  closely  approximating  that  when 
the  house  was  new.  In  Oakdale,  Howard  County,  the 
home  of  former  Governor  Edwin  F.  Warfield,  of  Mary- 
land, one  finds  himself  where  the  traditions  of  this  old 
Maryland  family  are  carefully  maintained. 

A  minor  triumph  of  colonial  home  building  in  Mary- 
land is  the  rectory  of  St.  Paul's  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  Baltimore,  illustrated  in  this  chapter.  Erected 
in  1794  as  the  home  of  the  spiritual  director  of  this 
parish,  it  has  never  served  any  other  purpose.  It  at 
present  shelters  the  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  Kinsolving  and 
his  family.  Situated  at  the  intersection  of  busy  Cathe- 
dral and  Saratoga  streets  in  the  downtown  section  and 
opposite  a  large  hotel,  it  draws  many  curious  glances 
from  Baltimoreans  and  strangers  to  the  city  alike. 

11 


INTRODUCTION 


The  life  that  was  lived  in  these  old  homes  has  been 
pictured  often  by  novelists  and  historians.  It  was  not 
all  cards  and  wine,  dancing  and  love-making,  with  a 
little  bit  of  duelling  thrown  in  for  good  measure  after 
breakfast  as  cheap  romancers  would  have  it,  but  one 
cannot  help  thinking  that  the  occupants  of  these  houses 
knew  how  to  live  life  fully  and  frankly  and  one  may  be 
sure  that  they  had  sufficient  leisure,  as  well,  for  reflec- 
tion and  rest. 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF 
MARYLAND 


THE  CHASE  HOUSE 

ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND 
CHASE— LLOYD— HARWOOD—RIDOUT 


)HE  old  Chase  House,  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  as  it  is  affectionately 
spoken  of  by  residents  of  this 
quaint  and  delightful  city,  is  one 
of  the  largest  of  the  colonial  man- 
sions which  have  made  that  place 
a  Mecca  for  artists  and  students 
of  architecture.  It  faces  the  Hammond  House  on  the 
north  side  of  Maryland  Avenue,  over  which  it  gazes 
to  the  sleepy  harbor  front  and  the  broad  waters  of 
Chesapeake  Bay  at  the  mouth  of  the  Severn  River,  its 
three  stories  and  a  half  above  the  pavement  giving  it  an 
advantage  of  height  over  any  other  residence  in 
Annapolis. 

The  house  is  situated  on  the  main  way  to  the  Naval 
Academy  and  receives  many  visitors  daily  from  among 
the  sightseers  to  this  institution.  Of  late  years  it  has 
been  the  home  of  a  public  charity  and  gives  open  door 
to  all  callers.  Few  men  or  women  could  be  so  absorbed 
in  affairs  of  the  present  as  to  fail  to  respond  to  its 
mute  invitation  to  step  aside  for  a  few  moments  for  a 
trip  into  the  past. 

When  Annapolis  was  laid  out  in  1695,  the  ground 
on  which  the  old  mansion  stands  was  surveyed,  forming 
a  part  of  the  original  plat  of  the  city.     The  town-site 

15 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

commissioners  put  down  two  adjacent  circles  of  ground 
in  what  is  the  centre  of  the  present-day  city.  One  of 
these  circles  they  labelled  "  State,"  and  here  the  capitol 
of  Maryland  stands,  a  beautiful  Georgian  edifice  with  a 
quaint  dome  and  interior  decorations  by  Bulfinch.  The 
other  circle  they  called  "  Church,"  and  here  was  erected 
St.  Anne's  Church  (of  the  Church  of  England)  thrice 
rebuilt  but  sheltering  within  its  grounds  the  bones  of 
most  of  Annapolis'  honored  dead,  including  those  of 
many  of  these  very  same  town-site  commissioners. 
Another  part  of  the  future  city  the  commissioners  de- 
voted to  "  Trade,"  other  parts  to  "  Gentlemen's 
Homes,"  and  "  Tradesmen's  Homes."  State,  Church, 
Trade,  and  Gentility  were  kept  carefully  separated  in 
the  ancient  city  until  well  after  the  Revolution,  for  it 
was  an  aristocratic  city  with  aristocratic  ideals;  and 
they  are  separated  even  now,  some  of  the  city's  critics 
would  say. 

In  the  heart  of  the  fine  residence  district,  the  Chase 
House  was  planned  and  finished.  It  faces  southeast  and 
is  built  close  to  the  southeast  boundary  of  its  lot,  which 
is  enclosed  by  a  high,  old-time  paling  fence.  Over  the 
Maryland  Avenue  side  of  this  fence,  near  the  front  door, 
hang  sweet-flowering  bushes,  the  remains  of  a  garden 
planted  a  century  or  more  ago.  Though  the  garden  is 
not  so  orderly  as  it  once  was — ^with  close-clipt  hedges 
and  tiny,  gravelled  walks — it  still  shows  the  plan  on 
which  it  was  laid  out  in  ye  olden  time. 

16 


ENTRANCE  TO  CHASE  HOUSE 
1769 


THE  CHASE  HOUSE 


The  doorway  of  the  old  home  is  of  three-part  con- 
struction with  a  fanlight  over  the  central  portion,  and  is 
approached  by  a  high,  broad  flight  of  steps  headed  by  a 
commodious  landing  with  quaint  benches  on  either  side. 
There  is  a  brass  knocker  on  the  door  representing 
Medusa's  head,  with  the  knocker-stirrup  encircling  the 
lower  part  of  the  face. 

Though  large,  the  house  is  not  ill-proportioned,  and 
the  monotonous  expanse  of  the  walls  is  varied  by  string 
courses  of  brick  which  mark  the  different  stories.  The 
cornice  is  heavy  and  the  eaves  of  the  roof  have  wide 
projections  lowering  the  appearance  of  the  house,  and 
preventing  its  seeming  too  high.  The  carved  medallion 
panels  on  the  inside  shutters  are  to  be  plainly  seen  from 
the  street,  and  this  feature  adds  a  touch  of  ornament 
to  the  plain  exterior. 

The  house  was  originally  intended  to  have  wings, 
but  these  were  never  finished,  though  there  is  a  sort  of 
**  rudimentary  development "  on  the  northeast  side, 
wherein  is  situated  a  kitchen  and  a  laundry. 

The  main  building  is  divided  through  the  middle  by 
a  broad  hallway  leading  from  the  front  door  to  a  great 
stairway  at  the  back  of  the  house.  To  the  right  of  this 
hall,  as  one  enters,  is  the  dining-room,  an  apartment  of 
stately  proportions.  To  the  left  is  the  parlor.  Beyond 
the  parlor  is  a  sitting-room,  and  between  these  rooms 
runs  a  passage  from  the  main  hall  to  a  little  terrace 
overlooking  the  remains  of  the  garden.    To  the  rear  of 

2  17 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

the  dining-room  is  a  small  breakfast-room,  while  be- 
tween these  two  rooms  is  a  passage  leading  down  a  steep 
flight  of  stairs,  through  a  very  thick  old  door-frame  to 
the  kitchen.    There  are  no  other  rooms  on  the  first  floor. 

The  stairway  commences  with  a  single  flight  leading 
to  a  landing.  Steps  and  landing  are  lighted  by  a  Palla- 
dian  window  which  has  been  copied  in  many  beautiful 
homes  of  this  country.  From  here  there  are  two  flights 
in  a  reverse  direction  which  run  without  break  to  a 
gallery  on  the  second  floor.  From  this  gallery  halls 
extend  to  the  northeast  and  southwest  sides  of  the  house. 
Much  less  conspicuous  stairs  conduct  one  from  the 
second  to  the  third  floor.  The  base  of  the  main  stairway 
is  marked  by  two  fine  Ionic  columns  which  support  the 
gallery  on  the  second  floor.  This  flight  of  steps  is  that 
down  which  Dorothy  Manners  tripped  so  blithely  and 
so  effectively  in  Winston  Churchill's  novel  of  colonial 
Annapolis,  "  Richard  Carvel,"  Annapolitans  assert,  but 
there  is  no  foundation  for  the  story,  save  the  fitting 
beauty  of  the  stair.  A  back-stairs  is  to  be  found  in  the 
house,  too,  an  unusual  thing  in  houses  of  the  Georgian 
period,  and  a  sign  of  great  extravagance  in  its  builder. 

The  doors  of  the  house  throughout  are  of  solid 
mahogany  with  latches  and  hinges  of  wrought  silver. 
There  is  much  wood-carving,  particularly  in  the  dining- 
room,  and  the  ceilings  of  the  first  floor  are  of  stucco. 

The  foundations  of  the  Chase  House  were  laid  in 
1769  by  Samuel  Chase,  "  the  Signer."    In  May  of  that 

18 


,) 


SHUTTER  CARVING,  CHASE  HOUSE 


THE  CHASE  HOUSE 


year  he  purchased  lot  Number  One  Hundred  and  Seven 
in  the  city  of  Annapolis,  an  old  deed  in  the  land  record 
office,  Annapolis,  tells  us,  from  Denton  Hammond  for 
One  Hundred  Pounds,  Sterling.  He  commenced  to 
build  immediately,  and  two  years  from  this  time,  in  July, 
1771,  sold  this  piece  of  ground  and  "  all  houses,  edifices, 
buildings,  improvements,  waters,  easements,  privileges, 
commodities  and  advantages  whatsoever  to  the  same 
belonging  "  to  Edward  Lloyd,  of  "  Wye  House,"  Tal- 
bot County,  Maryland.  The  consideration  involved 
was  "  Five  Hundred  and  Four  Pounds,  Sterling,  of 
Great  Britain,  and  Two  Thousand,  Four  Hundred 
and  Ninety-one  Pounds,  Seventeen  Shillings  and  Seven 
Pence,  Current." 

These  words  are  quoted  from  an  indenture  among 
the  provincial  court  records  of  Maryland,  now  in  the 
Land  Commissioner's  office  in  the  Court  of  Appeals 
Building,  Annapolis,  and  are  given  verbatim^  as  it  has 
been  a  matter  of  dispute  whether  Samuel  Chase  built 
entirely  the  old  mansion  that  bears  his  name,  whether  he 
built  it  in  part  and  left  it  to  be  finished  by  Edward 
Lloyd,  or  whether  he  was  at  all  concerned  in  its  erection. 
Considering  the  sum  of  money  involved  in  the  transac- 
tion last  noted,  rather  great  for  property  in  those  days — 
especially  when  compared  with  the  amount  which  was 
paid  for  the  lot  two  years  prior  thereto — it  seems  indis- 
putable that  the  house  was  substantially  completed  when 
it  came  into  its  second  owner's  hands. 

19 


COLONIAL  IVIANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

At  the  same  time,  when  we  think  of  the  scarcity  of 
skilled  labor  and  the  general  slowness  of  construction 
work  at  that  time,  we  must  conclude  that  the  interior 
was  finished  under  Edward  Lloyd's  direction,  and  the 
final  stamp  given  the  property  by  him.  This  view  is 
strikingly  borne  out  by  a  comparison  of  the  exterior  and 
interior  of  the  house.  The  big,  simple  masses  of  the 
exterior  and  the  uncomplicated  general  plan  of  the 
house,  contrasted  with  the  slim,  fastidious  silver  door- 
fittings  and  decorations  of  the  interior,  show  two  de- 
cidedly different  personalities,  and  these  observations 
agree  very  well,  too,  with  the  characters  of  Samuel 
Chase  and  Edward  Lloyd,  as  they  are  to  be  seen  in 
records  of  their  contemporaries. 

In  the  registry  of  wills  of  Baltimore  city  is  to  be 
found  the  testament  of  Thomas  Chase,  "  clerk  of  Balti- 
more Town,  Baltimore  County,"  probated  in  the  year 
1779,  in  which  the  testator  leaves  all  his  world's  goods 
to  "  son  Samuel."  This  Thomas  Chase  was  the  father 
of  the  builder  of  the  Chase  home.  He  was  a  clergyman 
of  the  Church  of  England,  but  held  a  civil  position  for 
the  greater  part  of  his  life.  The  document  mentions 
other  children,  Ann,  Elizabeth,  George,  and  Richard. 

There  is  another  will  of  earlier  date  in  this  same  de- 
pository, bearing  the  name  of  Richard  Chase,  brother 
of  Thomas,  which  mentions  two  children,  Jeremiah  and 
Frances.  These  good  old  English  names,  Thomas, 
Samuel,  Richard,  Jeremiah,  Ann,  and  Elizabeth,  recur 

20 


THE  CHASE  HOUSE 


constantly  in  the  records  of  the  Chase  family.  This 
Richard  Chase's  will  contains  one  statement,  too,  show- 
ing at  least  that  its  maker  had  a  mind  of  his  own:  "  I 
desire  that  no  funeral  sermon  shall  be  preached  at  my 
interment." 

"  Son  Samuel,"  of  Thomas,  was  educated  in  Annapo- 
lis when  that  little  city  was  beginning  to  thrill  to  that 
spirit  of  independence  which  brought  about  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  was  filled  with  men  ardently  reciting  the  creed 
of  liberty.  Among  them  very  soon  one  finds  Chase  con- 
spicuous. He  joined  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty"  and  be- 
came known  for  uncompromising  frankness  of  utterance 
and  a  personal  bravery  that  has  made  him  a  picturesque 
figure  in  Maryland  annals.  A  somewhat  more  opulent 
follower  of  the  Hustings  than  Andrew  Jackson,  he  yet 
resembles  that  great  fire-eater  of  later  times  in  many 
particulars.  Once  he  was  assailed  by  certain  prominent 
men  of  Annapolis  with  a  newspaper  canard  containing 
the  following  words:  "  Chase  is  a  busy-body,  a  restless 
incendiary,  a  ring-leader  of  mobs,  a  foulmouthed  and 
inflaming  son  of  discord  and  faction,  a  promoter  of  the 
lawless  excesses  of  the  multitude."  This  followed  his 
connection  with  the  destruction  of  the  property  of 
Zachariah  Hood,  stamp  collector  for  the  province  of 
Maryland.    Says  the  historian  Warfield : 

Chase  replied  to  these  words  in  a  vehement  public  address : 
"  Was  it  a  mob  who  destroyed  in  effigy  our  stamp  distributor? 
Was  it  a  mob  who  assembled  here  from  the  different  counties 

21 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

and  indignantly  opened  the  public  offices?  Whatever  vanity 
may  whisper  in  your  ears,  or  that  pride  and  arrogance  may 
suggest  which  are  natural  to  despicable  tools  of  power,  emerged 
from  obscurity  and  basking  in  proprietary  sunshine,  you  must 
confess  them  to  be  your  superiors,  men  of  reputation  and 
merit,  who  are  mentioned  with  respect  while  you  are  named 
with  contempt,  pointed  out  and  hissed  at  as  fruges  consumere 
nati. 

"  I  admit  that  I  was  one  of  those  who  committed  to  the 
flames  in  effigy  the  stamp  distributor  of  this  province,  and  who 
openly  disputed  the  parliamentary  right  to  tax  the  colonies; 
while  you  skulked  in  your  houses,  some  of  you  asserting  the 
parliamentary  right  and  esteeming  the  Stamp  Act  a  beneficial 
law.  Others  of  you  meanly  grumbled  in  your  corners,  not 
daring  to  speak  out  your  sentiments." 

It  was  a  time  of  strong  men  and  strong  language  I 
On  another  occasion,  while  Chief  Justice  of  the  General 
Court  of  Maryland,  and  when  there  was  a  riot  in  the 
streets  of  Baltimore,  Chase  with  his  own  unaided  hands 
arrested  two  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  disturbance  of  the 
peace  and  dragged  them  before  the  sheriff. 

His  prisoners  refused  to  give  bail  and  the  sheriff  was 
afraid  there  would  be  a  successful  effort  to  rescue  them  if 
he  took  them  to  jail  through  the  crowded  streets. 

"  Summon  a  posse  comitatus/^  thundered  Judge  Chase. 

"  Sir,  no  one  will  serve." 

"  Summon  me,  then ;  I  will  take  them  to  j  ail !  " 

Instead  of  presenting  the  rioters,  the  grand  jury  in- 
dicted the  judge  for  holding  a  place  in  two  courts  at  the 
same  time. 

22 


(> 


PALLADIAN  WINDOW  IN  CHASE  HOUSE 


THE  CHASE  HOUSE 


Still  later  in  life,  as  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  by  appointment  from  Presi- 
dent Washington,  Chase  was  impeached  in  the  United 
States  Senate  for  mingling  diatribes  against  current 
political  conditions  with  his  judicial  utterances.  While 
the  impeachment  did  not  hold,  no  one  doubted  its  provo- 
cation. He  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress 
from  1774  to  1778. 

Judge  Chase's  first  wife  was  Ann  Baldwin,  of  an 
old  Maryland  family,  by  whom  he  had  four  children, 
Samuel,  Thomas,  Ann,  and  Catherine.  He  married  a 
second  time,  Hannah  Kitty  'Giles,  of  Kentbury,  Eng- 
land, and  died  June  19,  1811.  Thomas  Chase  married 
his  cousin,  Matilda,  daughter  of  Jeremiah  T.  Chase. 
Catherine  married  Henry  Ridgely,  of  Howard  County, 
Maryland. 

The  second  owner  of  the  mansion,  Edward  Lloyd, 
of  Wye  House,  was  of  the  old  baronial  stock  of  the 
colony,  and  was  the  fourth  Edward  Lloyd  in  Mary- 
land. The  family  was  English  in  origin  and  a  more 
extended  account  of  it  will  be  found  in  the  chapter  on 
Wye  House,  where  this  Edward  kept  a  deer  park, 
horses  and  hounds,  and  rode  when  he  went  abroad,  in 
that  illustrious  but  cumbersome  institution — a  coach 
and  four.  His  tax  assessment  in  1783,  despite  depreda- 
tions by  British  marauders  at  Wye  House,  included  261 
slaves,   799  head  of  sheep,  147  horses,   571  hea/d  of 

23 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

cattle,  579  head  of  hogs,  215,000  pounds  of  tobacco,  500 
ounces  of  plate  and  72  tracts  of  land  covering  ll,884<i/^ 
acres.  At  his  death  he  left  his  home  in  Annapolis  to  his 
son  Edward  Lloyd,  V,  who  became  Governor  of  Mary- 
land, 1809-1811. 

During  its  occupancy  by  Edward  Lloyd,  IV,  the 
Chase  House  was  the  scene  of  many  brilliant  social 
entertainments,  and  the  tradition  of  hospitality  thus 
established  was  continued  by  this  gentleman's  son  and 
heir,  Edward  Lloyd,  V,  the  next  occupant,  during 
whose  occupancy,  moreover,  the  old  home  became  the 
"  Governor's  Mansion  "  of  Maryland,  by  reason  of  its 
master's  election  to  that  high  office  in  1809. 

One  must  again  turn  to  the  record  office  in  Annapo- 
lis to  follow  the  life  of  the  Chase  House.  May  11, 1826, 
Edward  Lloyd,  V,  sold  the  Chase  House  to  his  son-in- 
law,  Henry  Hall  Harwood,  for  $6,500,  the  first  mention 
in  deeds  concerning  the  property  of  coin  of  the  United 
States.  November  5,  1847,  it  was  purchased  from  the 
heirs  of  Henry  Hall  Harwood,  who  died  suddenly,  by 
Miss  Hester  Ann  Chase,  daughter  of  Jeremiah  T.  Chase. 
She  left  it,  in  her  will  of  1875,  to  her  nieces,  Matilda  and 
Frances  Catherine  Townley  Chase,  daughters  of 
Thomas  Chase  (son  of  Judge  Samuel)  and  his  cousin- 
wife  Matilda  (daughter  of  Jeremiah  T.  Chase).  The 
old  home  thus  came  back  at  last  to  descendants  of  its 
founder.  These  two  ladies  did  not  marry  and  were  sur- 
vived by  their  sister,  Hester  Ann  Chase  Ridout,  wife 

24 


THE  CHASE  HOUSE 


of  Reverend  Samuel  Ridout,  to  whom  they  in  turn  left 
then*  half-interest  in  the  old  home. 

The  final  phase  of  the  life  of  the  Chase  House  was 
entered  into  in  1888,  following  the  death  of  Hester 
Ann  Chase  Ridout,  by  reason  of  the  following  words 
in  this  noble-hearted  woman's  will:  "  Desiring  to  estab- 
lish a  home  for  destitute,  aged  and  infirm  women,  where 
they  may  find  a  retreat  from  the  vicissitudes  of  life  and 
to  endow  the  same,  as  far  as  my  means  will  allow,  to  be 
called  and  known  as  the  '  Chase  Home,'  I  hereby  devise 
and  bequeath  to  Dr.  William  G.  Ridout,  John  Scharff 
Stockett,  John  Wirt  Randall,  Frank  H.  Stockett,  Eu- 
gene Worthington,  Dr.  Zachariah  D.  Ridout,  Elizabeth 
M.  Franklin,  and  Nannie  S.  Stockett,  and  to  their  heirs, 
successors  and  assigns,  all  that  lot  of  ground  on  Mary- 
land Avenue,  in  the  City  of  Annapolis,  together  with  all 
the  buildings  and  improvements  thereon,  where  I  now 
reside  .  .  .  together  with  the  furniture  which  may  be 
in  said  house  at  the  time  of  my  decease,  not  including, 
however,  family  portraits  and  silver-ware;  in  trust,  to 
be  held  by  them  and  their  successors  in  perpetuity  for 
the  objects  and  purposes  of  such  '  Home.'  "  Mrs.  Rid- 
out also  left  property  in  Baltimore  to  these  trustees  as 
an  endowment  for  the  "  Home." 

She  survived  her  husband  three  years,  and  had  no 
direct  heirs.  In  accordance  with  her  request,  she  lies 
buried  at  Whitehall,  her  husband's  family  home,  and 
by  his  side. 

25 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Its  later  owners  have  not  changed  the  Chase  House 
in  any  essential,  preferring  rather  to  maintain  it  in  its 
vestiture  of  the  olden  times.  It  contains,  amongst  other 
minor  colonial  relics,  a  set  of  china  bearing  the  Chase 
coat-of-arms,  an  immense  bedstead  requiring  a  set  of 
steps  to  enter  it,  and  an  eight-day  clock  which  belonged 
to  the  bachelor  Proprietary  Governor  Horatio  Sharpe, 
and  was  kept  by  him  at  Whitehall. 


THE  HAMMOND,  OR  HARWOOD, 
HOUSE 

ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND 

HAMMOND— PINKNEY— CHASE— LOCKERMAN— 
HARWOOD 


HE  Hammond  House,  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  very  often  called  the 
Harwood  House,  is  on  Maryland 
Avenue,  directly  opposite  the 
Chase  House,  just  described.  A 
more  striking  contrast  in  exterior 
than  these  two  buildings  could 
hardly  be  imagined,  as,  where  the  latter  is  high  and 
square,  the  former  is  low,  long  and  distinguished  for 
grace;  the  one  a  solid,  single  unit,  the  other  depending 
for  its  architectural  effect  almost  entirely  upon  one- 
story-and-a-half  wings,  which  are  almost  the  only 
examples  of  semi-octagonal  additions  of  this  character 
in  the  United  States.  The  Chase  House  is  notable  for 
breadth,  simplicity,  and  generosity  of  line  and  mass; 
the  Hammond  House  for  elegance,  refinement  of  detail, 
and  beautiful  proportion.  Either  one  in  itself  would  be 
sufficient  to  give  character  to  a  city  fortunate  enough 
to  possess  it,  and  that  the  two,  so  diverse  in  character, 
yet  so  representative  of  the  best  homes  of  our  fathers, 
should  be  face  to  face  affably  holding  converse  in  stately 
eighteenth-century  style  across  the  same  street  in  the 
same  city,  is  a  rare  cause  for  congratulation. 

27 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

The  Hammond  House  was  built  in  1774  by  Matthias 
Hammond,  the  revolutionary  patriot;  was  inherited,  in 
1786,  by  John  Hammond,  nephew  of  the  builder;  sold 
by  its  inheritor,  in  1789,  to  his  brother,  Philip  Ham- 
mond; was  transferred  by  purchase,  March  31,  1810, 
from  Philip  Hammond  to  Ninian  Pinkney  and  by  pur- 
chase, October  28,  1811,  from  Ninian  Pinkney  to  Jere- 
miah Townley  Chase,  who  bought  it  as  a  home  for  his 
daughter,  Frances  Townley  Chase  Lockerman.  The 
present  owner  of  the  house  is  JNIiss  Hester  Harwood,  a 
granddaughter  of  Frances  Townley  Chase  Lockerman, 
whose  father,  William  Harwood,  in  1853,  married  Mrs. 
Lockerman's  daughter,  Hester  Ann  Lockerman. 

There  are  many  interesting  traditions  in  Annapolis 
of  this  old  property,  one  of  them  relating  to  the  quaint 
transaction  that  took  place  between  Edward  Lloyd 
who  lived  in  the  Chase  House  and  Matthias  Hammond 
during  the  building  of  the  latter's  home.  The  story 
goes  that  the  latter  had  planned  to  have  a  three-story 
edifice  without  wings,  very  much  like  other  town  houses 
of  the  time  in  Annapolis,  and  was  proceeding  merrily 
along  in  this  direction,  when  it  occurred  to  the  former 
that  if  the  latter  carried  out  his  plans  in  full,  the  former 
would  have  no  view  of  the  water  from  his  front  windows 
— a  very  much  sought-after  condition  in  those  days. 

Events  proved  that  the  two  gentlemen  were  good 
friends,  as  otherwise,  in  that  litigious  age  and  city,  they 
would  certainly  have  gone  to  the  courts  and  our  two 

28 


THE  HAMMOND,  OR  HARWOOD,  HOUSE 

beautiful  colonial  reminders  of  the  present  day  might 
never  have  been  finished;  or  the  two  men  would  never 
have  come  to  so  amicable  an  agreement  as  they  did 
reach.  Mr.  Hammond  agreed  to  change  the  plans  of 
his  house  so  that  Mr.  Lloyd  might  have  a  good  view 
if  Mr.  Lloyd  would  pay  the  cost  of  the  wings  which 
would  be  added  to  his  house  to  make  up  for  the  space 
lost  in  the  projected  third  story.  Thus,  instead  of  his 
hopes  taking  wings,  as  they  might  have  done  had  he  gone 
into  the  courts,  Mr.  Hammond's  house  took  wings,  and 
all  was  well.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  founda- 
tion walls  of  the  Hammond  House  are  five  feet  thick 
in  the  central  portion,  which — even  with  the  generous 
emphasis  on  such  details  of  those  days — seems  rather  too 
much  for  a  two-story  building. 

Another  tradition  in  Annapolis  of  the  old  home  has 
a  flavor  of  romance.  Mr.  Hammond  was  engaged  to 
be  married  to  a  fair  lady,  whose  name  has  not  been 
handed  down  to  us,  and  this  house,  a  very  gem  of 
classical  architecture,  was  to  be  his  wedding  gift  to  his 
bride.  It  was  finished,  and  its  master  had  even  sent  to 
Philadelphia  for  furniture  when  his  fiancee  would  have 
nothing  more  to  do  with  him  because,  tradition  hath  re- 
ported it,  she  declared  he  gave  more  of  his  thoughts  to 
the  house  than  to  herself.  The  rift  in  the  lute  of  love 
between  these  two  was  complete,  their  marriage  never 
took  place,  and  the  only  result  was  this  beautiful  crea- 
tion of  brick  and  mortar  which  has  preserved  its  form 

29 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 


and  dignity  when  the  human  beings  who  brought  it  into 
existence  have  almost  passed  from  recollection. 

Its  builder  was  the  great-grandson  of  Maj.-Gen. 
John  Hammond,  who  settled  near  Annapolis,  Mary- 
land, before  the  eighteenth  century  and  died  in  1707, 
Matthias'  line  of  descent  reading;  John,  Charles,  Philip. 
Since  we  must  hear  again  of  his  family,  and  since  he 
remained  a  bachelor  throughout  the  rest  of  his  life,  we 
shall  not  now  further  discuss  him  except  to  say  that  by 
profession  he  was  an  attorney. 

The  Hammond  House  is  notable  for  its  doorway 
which,  with  the  second-floor  window  and  the  bull's- 
eye  above,  form  a  group  very  generally  and  greatly 
admired. 

The  principle  of  symmetry  is  observed  with  great 
strictness  throughout  the  exterior  and  interior  of  the 
house.  In  the  reception-room,  even,  where  a  doorway  is 
needed  in  one  wall  to  balance  a  doorway  in  the  adjacent 
wall,  a  dummy-door  has  been  constructed,  which  is  com- 
plete in  every  detail  of  lintel,  frame  and  carving. 

The  left  wing  of  the  house  is  not  connected  with  the 
main  body,  and  was  used  as  an  office  by  the  builder  of 
the  house.  The  right  wing  is  connected,  and  contains 
the  kitchen  and  pantry.  In  each  wing  are  second  floors 
containing  bedrooms. 

The  main  hall-way  leads  from  the  main  entrance  to 
a  drawing-room  in  the  back  of  the  house  overlooking 
the  garden.    On  the  right  of  the  drawing-room  is  the 

30 


ENTRANCE  TO  HAMxMOND  HOUSE 
1774 


THE  HAMMOND,  OR  HARWOOD,  HOUSE 

dining-room.  A  library  and  a  reception-room  are  on 
either  side  of  the  hall. 

On  the  second  floor,  over  the  dining  and  drawing- 
rooms,  and  taking  in  the  whole  back  of  the  house,  is  a 
ball-room,  nineteen  by  twenty-seven  feet,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  colonial  rooms  ever  built.  It  is  wain- 
scoted with  wood  to  the  height  of  about  three  feet, 
and  the  tall  window  frames,  door  frames,  mantel  and 
cornice  are  most  exquisitely  carved.  The  great  charm 
of  the  room  lies  in  its  fine  proportions,  high  ceiling,  and 
atmosphere  of  grace  and  dignity,  and  it  was  a  fitting 
setting  for  the  many  brilliant  social  gatherings  it  held 
under  its  first  master's  regime. 

The  ground  back  of  the  house  once  sloped  away  to 
the  water,  but  the  little  creek  which  did  duty  then  has 
long  since  been  filled  in,  and  the  only  view  to  be  ob- 
tained in  that  quarter  now  is  the  roofs  of  the  Paca  and 
Brice  mansions  and  the  tops  of  some  modern  little 
structures  built  on  "  made  "  land.  The  remains  of  a 
terraced  garden  are  to  be  found  here,  yet  this  garden 
in  its  fullest  perfection  was  not  original  with  the  house, 
but  is  to  be  associated  with  the  name  of  a  later  occupant, 
Frances  Townley  Chase  Lockerman,  whose  love  for, 
and  success  with,  flowers  was  proverbial  in  her  day. 
She  it  was  who  planned  the  walks  and  had  set  out  the 
borders,  the  remains  of  which  we  admire  to-day. 

The  deed  of  sale,  on  record  in  the  land  office  at 
Annapolis,  Maryland,  between  Philip  Hammond  and 

31 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Ninian  Pinkney,  contains  a  concise  summary  of  the 
title  of  the  house,  which  seems  to  point  to  the  fact  that 
Pinkney  had  been  a  tenant  before  he  purchased  it,  and 
a  section  may  be  quoted.  The  location  of  the  property 
is  described,  and  then  follows: 

all  of  which  four  lots  or  parcels  of  ground  lie  contiguous  and 
adjacent  to  each  other  and  'form  a  square  commonly  called 
"  Hammond's  Square,"  and  on  which  property  the  aforesaid 
Matthias  Hammond  built  that  elegant  and  commodious  dwelling- 
house,  office  and  kitchen,  which  was  lately  rented  and  now 
occupied  by  the  above-mentioned  Ninian  Pinkney,  a  party  to 
these  presents.  The  above-mentioned  property  was  devised  to 
John  Hammond,  son  of  Charles  Hammond,  in  the  last  will  and 
testament  of  the  aforesaid  Matthias  Hammond,  as  will  fully 
appear  by  the  said  will,  and  which  property  was  by  John  Ham- 
mond on  or  about  the  14th  of  December,  1789,  conveyed  to  the 
above-mentioned  Philip  Hammond. 

Ninian  Pinkney's  father,  Jonathan  Pinkney,  was  a 
sturdy,  bulldog  Englishman,  who  remained  loyal  to 
the  mother  country  during  the  Revolution  and  lost,  as  a 
consequence,  his  lifetime's  accumulation  of  property. 
His  sons,  Jonathan,  William,  and  Ninian,  had  each  to 
make  his  own  way  in  the  world  from  the  beginning, 
which  each  did  successfully,  William,  in  especial,  rising 
to  high  honor  at  the  bar  and  in  the  statecraft  of  his 
country,  serving  variously  as  United  States  Senator, 
Minister  to  Great  Britain,  Minister  to  Russia,  and 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.  Ninian,  the 
youngest   son,   married  twice.     By   his   second   wife, 

82 


r) 


c  s. 


^a. 


.T  t*  M 


in'  >^  ^ 

cr  o  3 

'^  -  s 

7  2.  « 

E  -r  ::; 


THE  HAMMOND,  OR  HARWOOD,  HOUSE 

Amelia  Grason  Hobbs,  a  widow,  daughter  of  Richard 
Grason,  of  Talbot  County,  and  sister  of  Governor  Wil- 
liam Grason,  of  Maryland,  he  had  three  children :  Mary 
Amelia,  William,  and  Ninian,  Jr.  He  was  "  Clerk  of 
the  Council "  for  thu'ty  years. 

William  Pinkney,  son  of  Ninian,  became  fifth 
Bishop  of  Maryland  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  was 
born  in  the  old  house  we  have  been  studying.  His 
nephew  and  namesake,  the  late  United  States  Senator, 
William  Pinkney  Whyte,  carried  the  name  to  distinction 
in  recent  years. 

Ninian  Pinkney,  Jr.,  born  in  the  Hammond  House 
in  1811,  became  medical  director  of  the  United  States 
Army,  married  Mary  Sherwood,  and  died  in  1871.  Mary 
Amelia  Pinkney,  the  only  daughter  of  this  occupant  of 
the  Hammond  House,  died  unmarried. 

In  1811,  Mr.  Pinkney  sold  his  home  to  Chief  Justice 
Jeremiah  Townley  Chase,  who  bought  it  for  his 
daughter,  Frances  Catherine  Townley  Chase,  wife  of 
Richard  Lockerman,  a  descendant  of  the  Maryland 
branch  of  the  old  Knickerbocker  family  of  Loockermans, 
whose  name  so  largely  figures  in  the  early  annals  of  New 
York  City.  One  child  was  born  of  this  union,  Hester 
Ann  Lockerman,  named  for  her  maternal  aunt,  Hester 
Ann  Chase,  who  in  1847  bought  the  Chase  House.  This 
daughter  inherited  the  Hammond  House  and  married 
the  late  Judge  William  Harwood.  She  had  two 
daughters  and  one  son ;  Lucy  Matilda,  Hester  Ann,  and 

3  S3 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Richard  Lockerman  Harwood.  The  son  died  childless. 
Over  his  grave  in  the  burying  ground  at  Cemetery 
Creek,  Annapolis,  is  the  simple  inscription:  "Richard 
Lockerman  Harwood,  a  Confederate  soldier  of  Mary- 
land Cavalry,  only  son  of  Mrs.  Hester  Ann  Harwood." 
Lucy  Matilda  Harwood  died  unmarried.  Miss  Hester 
Ann  Harwood,  the  sole  survivor  of  this  generation  of 
the  family,  is  the  present  owner  of  the  Harwood  House. 
She  makes  her  home  in  the  left,  or  northeast  wing,  the 
rest  of  the  house  being  leased  to  Rear  Admiral  Garst, 
U.  S.  N.,  retired,  and  his  family,  which  consists  of  his 
wife  and  a  young  daughter. 

Judge  William  Harwood,  father  of  Miss  Hester 
Harwood,  was  an  ardent  sympathizer  with  the  Con- 
federate cause  during  the  "  late  unpleasantness,"  and 
remained  for  long  thoroughly  unreconstructed.  He 
was  a  teacher  in  a  school  in  Baltimore  during,  and  for 
some  years  after,  the  war  and  would  not  use  the  train 
between  Annapolis,  his  home,  and  that  city  as  in  order 
to  do  so  he  would  be  compelled  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  United  States,  but  every  week  tramped 
the  thirty  miles  to  Baltimore  and  back.  He  was  greatly 
beloved  in  Annapolis. 

The  Harwood  family  is  one  of  much  distinction  in 
Maryland,  and  its  branches  have  gone  into  Pennsylvania 
and  southern  states,  one  of  the  members  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania branch  being  Dr.  James  Harwood  Closson, 
of  Germantown.    It  springs  from  Richard  Harwood, 

34 


THE  HAMMOND,  OR  HARWOOD,  HOUSE 

of  "  Hooker's  Purchase,"  Anne  Arundel  County,  Mary- 
land, who  was  the  son  of  Thomas,  of  Streatley,  Berk- 
shire County,  England.  Richard,  son  of  this  Richard, 
married  Anne  Watkins,  born  1737,  and  had  nine  sons 
and  two  daughters,  among  whom  were  Colonel  Richard, 
of  "  South  River  battalion,"  who  married  Margaret 
Hall;  and  Thomas,  first  Treasurer  of  the  Western 
Shore  of  Maryland,  under  the  Council  of  Safety  of 
1776.  The  son  of  Colonel  Richard,  of  "  South  River 
battalion,"  was  Henry  Hall  Harwood,  who  married 
Elizabeth  Lloyd,  and  purchased  the  Chase  House. 
So  the  Harwood  name  has  been  closely  associated  with 
two  of  Maryland's  most  beautiful  colonial  survivals. 
Thomas,  Treasurer  of  the  Western  Shore  of  Maryland, 
had  a  son,  Richard,  who  married  a  Miss  Callahan,  and 
became  the  father  of  William  Harwood,  who  married 
Hester  Ann  Lockerman  and  thus  comes  into  this 
chapter. 


THE  PACA  HOUSE 

ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND 
PACA— SCHAAF—NETH— BLAND— KENNEDY— SWANN 

ROBABLY  none  of  the  old  home- 
steads of  Annapolis  is  more  fa- 
miliar to  the  general  public  than 
the  Paca  House,  of  late  years 
used  as  a  hotel.  A  superb  ex- 
ample of  solid,  tasteful  colonial 
building,  it  stands  on  Prince 
George  Street,  south  of  Maryland  Avenue  and  half  a 
city  block  away  from  the  old  Major  Dorsey  home, 
which  was  built  well  before  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Across  an  open  space  at  the  rear 
may  be  seen  the  back  of  the  Hammond  House  and  the 
roof  of  the  Chase  Home  for  the  aged.  Xext  door  is 
the  Brice  mansion. 

The  Paca  House  was  built  in  1763  by  William  Paca, 
ardent  stirrer  in  the  revolutionary  turmoil  and  signer 
of  the  Declaration.  It  is  of  the  conventional  type  of 
a  Maryland  colonial  home  of  elegance  in  that  it  con- 
sists of  a  central  building  with  wings;  and  its  general 
aspect  is  that  of  simplicity,  dignity,  and  mass.  It  is 
exceedingly  large,  being  only  rivalled  in  size  by  its 
neighbors,  the  Brice  and  Chase  Houses.  The  brickwork 
is  good,  and  the  walls,  fiv^e  feet  thick  at  the  foundations, 
are  as  impregnable  to  the  assaults  of  the  elements  to-day 
as  when  they  first  were  built. 

36 


THE  PACA  HOUSE 


The  interior  of  the  house  is  not  characterized  by 
that  elaboration  of  ornament  that  distinguishes  some 
other  Annapolis  homes,  but  the  window-casings  and 
shutters  of  the  parlor  are  very  beautifully  carved  in  a 
simple  floral  design.  The  house  has  a  wide  hall  through 
the  middle  and  the  staircase  is  situated  at  the  back  of 
the  hall,  leading  off  to  the  left  beneath  an  arch.  The 
attic  or  third-story  stairway  has  a  very  intricate 
balustrade  of  white  rails  set  in  a  sort  of  a  zigzag  design 
that  is  very  novel  though  not  greatly  attractive. 

One  of  the  most  notable  features  of  the  homestead 
in  its  youth  was  the  garden  in  the  rear  which  ran  down 
to  a  little  stream  of  water  making  in  from  the  harbour 
only  a  hundred  yards  or  so  away.  "  My  Ladye's 
Bower  "  it  was  called,  and  it  is  inevitably  recalled  first 
in  connection  with  the  old  house  when  old  residents  of 
the  ancient  city  send  their  thoughts  back  to  times  be- 
fore the  hand  of  change  could  be  so  plainly  seen  as  now. 
It  contained  a  summer  house,  a  miniature  lake,  a 
fountain,  a  wharf,  and  a  staunch  bateau.  In  this  the 
master  of  the  house  was  accustomed  to  be  rowed  by 
half  a  dozen  blacks  in  livery  when  he  paid  state  visits 
to  his  neighbors  on  the  Severn  or  one  of  the  nearby 
streams  which  were  the  chief  means  of  communication 
from  house  to  house  in  those  days. 

Many  years  ago  the  garden  fell  into  decay,  and 
when  the  property  passed  into  the  possession  of  the 
hotel  company  which  at  present  owns  it  the  last  vestiges 

37 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

of  this  fairy-land  of  flowers  and  quaint  box-walks  were 
destroyed,  the  very  bricks  which  formed  its  boundary 
walls  being  broken  apart  and  carried  around  to  the  front 
of  the  house,  where  they  were  relaid  to  make  a  new 
approach  to  the  stately  mansion. 

Much  of  the  beauty  of  this  old  garden,  tradition 
asserts,  was  due  to  the  care  with  which  it  was  tended  by 
the  first  mistress  of  the  old  home,  Mary  Chew  Paca, — 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Henrietta  Maria  Lloyd  Chew 
— for  whom  the  house  was  built.  She  it  was  who  laid 
it  out  and  it  was  her  delight  to  spend  her  leisure  hours 
in  its  familiar  little  nooks  and  corners. 

She  was  of  that  distinguished  family  which  has  set 
its  mark  in  four  states.  John  Chew,  the  first  of  his 
name  in  this  country,  came  to  Virginia  in  the  Sea 
Flower,  in  1622,  settled  in  Jamestown,  and  became  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  Samuel  Chew,  his 
son — of  "  Herrington,"  on  Herring  Creek,  Anne 
Arundel  County,  Maryland — was  Lord  Baltimore's 
"well-beloved  Samuel  Chew,  Esq."  In  1669  he  was 
sworn  in  as  one  of  the  justices  of  the  chancery  and 
provincial  courts,  and  until  his  death  in  1676  was  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Assembly.  His  son,  Samuel, 
married  Henrietta  Maria  Lloyd  and  his  granddaughter, 
Mary,  married  William  Paca. 

Samuel  Chew,  of  Maidstone,  near  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  son  of  Benjamin,  son  of  Samuel,  removed 
to  Dover,  Delaware,  and  was  father  of  that  famous 

38 


THE  PACA  HOUSE 


Benjamin  Chew,  who,  in  turn,  moved  to  Pennsylvania 
and  built  Cliveden,  that  beautiful  homestead  of  German- 
town,  Philadelphia,  around  which  the  battle  of  German- 
town  was  fought  and  about  whose  social  frivolities — 
in  which  figured  such  conspicuous  lights  as  Major 
Andre — many  a  tradition  is  current. 

William  Paca,  builder  of  the  Paca  House,  and 
who  deserves  and  has  received  far  more  study  than  this 
memoir  can  give,  was  born  in  Harford  County,  Mary- 
land, October  31,  1740.  His  father  was  John  Paca; 
his  mother,  Elizabeth  Smith  Paca.  The  name  is  Italian 
in  origin,  family  tradition  asserts,  and  there  is  a  touch 
of  the  Roman  in  the  features  and  olive  skin  of  the 
Signer  as  they  appear  in  his  portraits.  Elizabeth 
Smith,  wife  of  John  Paca,  father  of  William,  was  a 
daughter  of  that  "  pretty  Betty  Martin  "  with  whose 
name  an  old  nursery  rhyme  is  so  free.  It  runs  as 
follows : 

Pretty  Betty  Martin, 

Tip-toe!   Tip-toe! 
Pretty  Betty  Martin, 

Tip-toe  fine! 

Pretty  Betty  Martin, 

Tip-toe!   Tip-toe! 
Couldn't  find  a  husband 

To  suit  her  mind .' 

The  story  is  that  "  Pretty  Betty  Martin  "  was  born 
in  England  and  when  she  came  to  this  country,  a  young 

39 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

woman,  had  so  many  suitors  on  the  ship  in  which  she 
made  the  voyage  that  she  could  not  choose  among 
them,  so,  consequently,  rejected  all.  It  has  been  said 
that  she  was  a  niece  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  but 
even  this  reflected  effulgence  of  glory  can  add  little  to 
her  fame  as  the  heroine  of  the  jingle  just  quoted. 

Her  son  was  educated  at  Philadelphia  under  the 
tuition  of  Reverend  William  Smith,  D.D.,  and,  after 
he  acquired  all  of  the  polite  accomplishments  and  knowl- 
edge deemed  necessary  to  a  gentleman,  was  sent  to 
Annapolis,  Maryland,  to  read  law  in  the  office  of  his 
father's  friend,  Stephen  Bordley,  Esquire,  one  of  the 
great  lights  of  the  early  days  of  the  Maryland  bar. 
In  1761  he  was  licensed  to  practise  law  and  in  1764 
was  admitted  to  the  bar.  At  this  time  Annapolis  was 
at  its  gayest  as  a  social  capital  and  was  already  begin- 
ning to  work  itself  up  to  that  fever  pitch  of  feeling 
against  the  mother  country  which  marked  the  days  just 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  Independence. 
Young  Paca  became  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty, 
and  one  of  his  exploits — of  a  somewhat  later  period  of 
his  life — was  to  head  a  mob  which  hung  on  a  gibbet  and 
buried  in  a  coffin  the  proclamation  enforcing  the  Stamp 
Act  issued  by  Governor  Eden,  the  last  Proprietary 
executive  of  Maryland,  while  meantime  in  the  harbour 
minute  guns  were  fired  from  a  schooner  owned  by  him. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Assembly  in  1774 
where,  against  the  instructions  of  his  constituents,  he 

40 


9 


THE  PACA  HOUSE 


continually  advocated  the  ratification  of  a  declaration 
of  independence  from  Great  Britain,  and  two  years 
later  was  a  signer  of  the  immortal  proclamation  of 
American  liberty.  In  1778  he  was  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Maryland;  in  1782-1784  and  1786- 
1788,  Governor  of  Maryland;  and  in  1789,  by  appoint- 
ment from  President  Washington,  Judge  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  Maryland.  Washington  was 
urged  to  appoint  another  man,  but  replied  that  if  it  had 
not  been  for  Paca  and  others  like  him  there  would  have 
been  no  United  States  and  that  he  deserved  the  place. 
He  died,  October  27,  1799,  at  the  home  of  his  son,  John 
Philemon  Paca,  of  Wye  House,  Wye  Island,  Talbot 
County,  JMaryland.  Here  in  a  grove  of  trees  not  far 
from  the  site  of  the  house  his  body  was  committed  to 
the  earth. 

On  the  day  of  its  organization  in  Maryland,  No- 
vember 21,  1783,  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  of 
Maryland,  passed  the  following  resolution: 

Resolved,  that  as  a  testimony  of  the  satisfaction  we  feel 
in  the  opportunity  we  enjoy  of  returning  to  our  respective 
stations  in  the  general  class  of  the  community  and  of  recommenc- 
ing our  civil  occupations  under  a  government  which  we  have 
aided  to  establish  and  which  we  all  approve  and  will  endeavor 
to  maintain ;  and  in  consideration  of  the  abilities,  merit,  patriot- 
ism of  His  Excellency,  Governor  Paca,  this  society  direct  that 
the  Secretary-General  Williams  wait  on  His  Excellency  and  in- 
form him  that  this  society  do  themselves  the  honor  to  consider 
him  as  an  honorary  member. 

41 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

He  was  the  same  day  elected  a  delegate  to  the 
general  society  and  a  year  later  vice-president  of  the 
Maryland  society. 

In  1789,  shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  his  second 
term  as  Governor  of  Maryland,  Paca  sold  his  home  in 
Annapolis  to  Arthur  Schaaf  who,  in  turn,  disposed 
of  it  to  Louis  Neth,  a  rich  merchant  of  Annapolis,  the 
owner  of  Primrose,  another  beautiful  colonial  home 
about  five  miles  out  of  the  ancient  city  which  he  used  as 
a  country  place.  In  1827  the  house  was  occupied  by 
Chancellor  Theodoric  Bland,  and  then,  for  a  number  of 
years,  by  Dr.  S.  D.  Kennedy,  a  beloved  physician  of 
Annapolis.  From  his  family  it  passed  to  Mrs.  Richard 
Swann,  who  sold  it  to  the  company  which  at  present 
holds  its  title. 

The  old  homestead  saw  its  most  brilliant  days  during 
the  occupancy  of  its  first  master  and  mistress.  Annapo- 
lis was  at  the  brightest  point  of  its  history  then  and 
Governor  Paca  was  endowed  with  that  precious  gift  of 
personal  magnetism  which  draws  together  and  stimu- 
lates congenial  spirits.  The  mansion  held  many  a  de- 
lightful and  notable  gathering  at  this  time. 

Before  the  Revolution  Washington  as  a  visitor  to 
Annapolis  spent  many  hours  as  a  guest  of  Mr.  Paca — 
when  neither  had  yet  been  singled  out  for  the  honors  of 
the  world — and  in  1783,  when  the  latter  was  Governor 
of  IMaryland,  his  hospitable  home  sheltered  many 
members  of  the  Continental  Congress  which  assembled 

42 


THE  PACA  HOUSE 


in  Annapolis  to  witness  the  great  leader  resign  his  com- 
mission as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  armies  of  the 
United  States.  Chairs  from  the  house  were  taken  to 
the  beautiful  old  Senate  chamber  in  the  capitol  of 
Maryland  for  the  use  of  the  delegates  and  are  repre- 
sented in  some  paintings  of  the  historic  ceremony  in 
which  they  figured. 

A  rather  quaint  tribute  to  Governor  Paca  was 
found  among  some  papers  in  Wye  Hall,  Wye  Island, 
Maryland,  in  1888,  and  was  then  reproduced  in  Lippin- 
cotfs  Magazine.  It  was  an  address  from  a  student's 
club  of  budding  lawyers  which  Governor  Paca  had 
been  instrumental  in  forming  in  Annapolis,  and  a 
passage  from  it  is  as  follows: 

When  a  man  in  the  tranquility  (sic)  and  leisure  of  private 
life  employs  part  of  his  time  in  the  improvement  of  the  rising 
generation,  we  readily  acknowledge  the  justice  of  his  claim  to 
the  thanks  of  every  considerate  mind.  But  when  we  behold 
the  Supreme  Magistrate  of  a  State,  with  all  the  cares  of 
government  on  his  hands,  devoting  his  short  intervals  of  repose 
to  the  instruction  of  Youth,  by  his  knowledge  and  experience 
pointing  out  to  them  the  path  to  Virtue  and  Glory,  the  most 
inattentive  must  admire  such  conduct  and  acknowledge  it  to 
be  far  above  the  reach  of  panegyric. 

Of  the  union  of  William  Paca  and  Mary  Chew  were 
born:  John  Philemon  Paca,  of  Wye  House,  Wye  Is- 
land, Maryland,  who  married  Julianna  Tilghman;  and 
a  daughter  who  married  Consul  Roubelle,  of  France, 

43 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

joint  ruler  of  that  country  with  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 
A  son  of  Consul  Roubelle  and  his  Maryland  wife  bore 
such  a  striking  likeness  to  the  accepted  type  of  the 
Christ  that  he  was  often  called  upon  by  artists  to  sit 
for  paintings  of  Our  Saviour. 

A  descendant  of  Governor  Paca  is  John  Philemon 
Paca,  of  Baltimore. 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 

ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND 
BRICE— STEPHEN— MARTIN— ROBB 


^  N  the  Brice  House,  Annapolis,  we 
may  see  one  of  the  most  magnifi- 
cent wedding  presents  in  the  his- 
tory of  colonial  times,  the  gift  of 
Thomas  Jenings,  cousin  of  Sarah 
Jenings — that  strange  figure  of 
English  history,  first  Duchess  of 
Marlborough — to  Juliana  Jenings  on  her  marriage  in 
1745  to  Col.  James  Brice,  son  of  John  and  Sarah 
Frisby  Brice.  It  is  at  the  intersection  of  East  and 
Prince  George  Streets,  Annapolis,  facing  toward  the 
harbor,  which  it  can  easily  see  over  the  heads  of  about 
a  city  block  of  little  modern  houses,  and  its  next  door 
neighbor  is  the  Paca  mansion  whose  garden  its  own 
garden  formerly  adjoined.  In  the  last  decade  the 
property  was  purchased  by  the  proprietors  of  the  hotel 
in  the  old  homestead  built  by  Governor  William  Paca, 
and  the  thorough  renovation  given  it  at  that  time  by  its 
new  owners — including,  especially,  the  new  paint — re- 
vealed charms  in  the  old  mansion  (tumble-down  in  the 
hands  of  its  last  owner)  not  hitherto  suspected  by  any  of 
its  acquaintances  of  this  generation.  It  is  now  an  annex 
of  the  adjacent  hotel,  but  has  been  rented  in  its  entirety 
for  a  home  by  Dr.  Paul  Quatrebeau,  whose  family 
consists  of  his  wife — a  very  charming  hostess  in  this 

45 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

old  house — and  a  young  son.  The  house  is  of  the  con- 
ventional Maryland  classic  style  with  centre  building 
and  wings,  and  is  famous  for  its  size,  beauty  of  pro- 
portion, and  elaboration  of  both  exterior  and  interior 
architectural  detail. 

The  present  approach  to  the  house  from  East 
Street  is,  as  shown  in  photographs,  of  modern  con- 
struction, the  old  walk  having  extended  directly  from 
the  front  door,  by  way  of  a  terrace,  to  the  pavement, 
and  having  a  very  small  stoop  to  the  steps.  One  of  the 
great  beauties  of  the  house  is  to  be  seen  above  the 
centre  doorway  in  a  wonderfully-carved  window,  whose 
graceful  floral  design  has  excited  much  enthusiastic 
admiration. 

The  interior  of  the  house  is  rich  in  carving,  plaster 
work,  wrought  brass  and  rare  and  costly  woods  used 
with  great  skill  and  in  profusion.  The  stairway  is  of 
San  Domingo  mahogany  richened  to  a  lustrous  black 
by  the  passage  of  the  years,  and  the  pilasters  and 
banisters  are  light  and  graceful  in  design.  The  latches 
of  the  doors  inside  the  house  are  of  very  beautifully 
worked  metal.  Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  single 
feature  of  the  inner  part  of  the  mansion  is  the  state 
drawing-room,  which  leads  off  to  the  rear  from  the 
square  hallway  upon  which  the  front  door  opens.  In 
this  regal  apartment  may  be  found,  in  especial,  a  fire- 
place very  generally  copied  and  admired.  The  fire  space 
is  framed  with  most  elaborate  and  delicate  carvings, 

46 


to 


MANTEL  IN  DRAWING-ROOM  OF  BRICE  HOUSE 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 


and  above  is  a  mantel  which  in  turn  supports  a 
finely  proportioned  plaster  panel  enclosed  with  carv- 
ings. The  cornice  of  the  room  is  noteworthy  for  its 
carving,  and  the  room  as  a  whole  is  conspicuous  for  its 
dignity,  spaciousness,  and  grace,  being  a  worthy  setting 
for  the  many  brilliant  social  gatherings  which  it  has 
held,  often  having,  as  an  honored  guest,  George  Wash- 
ington, on  his  frequent  visits  to  Annapolis  before  the 
Revolution. 

This  magnificent  mansion  was  built  about  1740. 
We  have  the  following  record  of  the  Jenings  family  in 
Maryland,  written  by  James  Frisby  Brice,  a  son  of  this 
Colonel  James,  and  as  quoted  by  J.  D.  Warfield  in  his 
admirable  "  Founders  of  Howard  and  Anne  Arundel 
Counties : " 

Thomas  Jenings,  my  grandfather,  was  born  in  England. 
The  place  and  time  of  his  birth  are  not  known  to  us;  nor  do 
we  know  the  Christian  names  of  his  father  and  mother.  The 
former  died  when  he  was  quite  young.  He  was  a  cousin  to  the 
Duchess  of  Marlborough  (the  first),  whose  name  was  Sarah 
Jenings.  He  came  to  this  country  when  nineteen  years  of  age. 
My  brother,  Thomas  J.  Brice,  found  in  the  Executive  Chamber 
(Annapolis)  a  record  of  his  commission  as  Attorney-General 
of  the  state,  about  the  year  1773. 

He  studied  law  in  England  with  Mr.  James  Best,  and  at  his 
request  named  a  son  and  daughter  for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Best  who 
left  them  legacies.  Elizabeth  Jenings  was  a  celebrated  beauty. 
She  became  Mrs.  Hodges  of  Baltimore.  We  are  related  to  the 
family  of  Edmund  Jenings,  Secretary  of  the  Province,  through 
his  marriage  to  my  great-grandmother,  Arian,  mother  of  Sarah 
Frisby. 

47 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Edmund  Jenings  and  wife  went  to  London,  where  she  died. 
He  returned  and  died  in  1757.  Their  son,  Edmund  Jenings, 
remained  in  England,  and  wrote  to  his  half-sister,  Sarah 
(Frisby)  Brice,  for  information  of  the  family. 

Col.  James  Brice,  a  gallant  soldier,  who  was  the  first 
master  of  the  Brice  House,  left  a  note-book  with  maps 
of  the  battles  in  which  he  fought  in  the  Revolution.  He 
had  two  sons :  Thomas  Jenings  and  James  Frisby  Brice 
(whose  notes  we  have  just  read),  and  a  daughter, 
Juliana  Jenings,  who  married  Judge  John  Stephen  of 
Bladensburg,  Maryland,  who  was  the  son  of  the  Rever- 
end Stephen  of  St.  JNIary's,  St.  Clary's  County, 
Maryland. 

Thomas  Jenings  Brice,  eldest  son  of  Colonel  James, 
was  the  next  occupant  of  the  Brice  mansion,  and  in  con- 
nection with  his  name  there  must  be  brought  up  the 
black  pall  of  tragedy.  He  was  a  man  of  great  generos- 
ity, and  made  large  provision  for  his  household  servants 
in  his  will.  It  is  thought  that  one  of  them  gained  knowl- 
edge of  the  will's  contents  and  was  overwrought  thereby, 
for  one  morning  the  lord  of  the  old  home  was  found 
dead — murdered,  while  he  was  asleep,  by  a  blow  on 
the  head  from  a  hammer.  Suspicion  has  always  rested 
on  the  household  servants — though  nothing  definite 
was  ever  proved.  Mr.  Brice  was  a  bachelor,  and  at 
his  death  the  property  became  the  home  of  his  brother, 
eventually  to  descend  to  Nicholas  Carroll  Stephen, 
of  Bladensburg,  Maryland,  and  Charles  W.  Stephen, 

48 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 


of  Baltimore,  who  in  1873  jointly  sold  the  mansion 
and  its  ground  to  Thomas  Ennals  Martin,  Mayor  of 
Annapolis  for  several  terms,  from  whom  it  was  inherited 
by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Louise  Martin  Robb,  by  whom, 
in  October,  1911,  it  was  disposed  of,  with  the  land  out- 
lying, to  its  present  owners. 

Juliana  Jenings  Brice,  who  married  Judge  Stephen, 
had  eight  sons,  only  one  of  whom,  Nicholas  Carroll,  had 
issue.  Benjamin  D.  Stephen,  John  Stephen,  and  Mrs. 
Juliana  Jenings  Diendonne,  of  Bladensburg,  Mary- 
land, were  his  heirs. 

The  Brice  family,  long  conspicuous  in  Maryland, 
and  now  seated  in  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  in  its  parent 
state,  originated  with  Capt.  John  Brice,  who  came  from 
Hampshire,  England.  Let  us  read,  again,  in  War- 
field's  valuable  work: 

From  a  copy  held  by  Nicholas  Brice  of  Philadelphia,  made 
from  Judge  Nicholas  Brice's  record,  the  following  is  taken  by 
permission  of  Mrs.  Edith  Harden  Ridout,  of  the  Severn: 

"  Captain  John  Brice  came  from  Hampshire,  England. 
He  is  recorded  as  gentleman,  merchant,  planter,  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  Captain  of 
the  Severn  Hundred.  He  married  Sarah,  widow  of  Captain 
John  Worthington.  His  crest  and  coat  of  arms,  a  lion's 
head,  are  still  extant. 

"  Captain  Brice  was  guardian  for  the  Worthington  heirs, 

and  extended  the  estate.     One  son  and  two  daughters  were  the 

issue  of  his  marriage  to  Mrs.  Worthington:  Ann,  who  married 

Vachel  Denton;   Rachel,  who  married  Philip   Hammond,   the 

4  49 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Annapolis  merchant;  and  John  Brice,  Jr.,  Judge  of  the 
Provincial  Court,  who  married  Sarah  Frisby,  daughter  of 
James  and  Ariana  (Vanderheyden)  Frisby." 

Unquestionably  the  most  magnificent  colonial  home 
in  Annapolis,  the  entertainments  given  at  the  Brice 
House  before  the  Revolution  were  of  a  royal  character, 
and  it  was  an  inspiring  centre  for  that  quaint,  gay  life 
which  made  the  little  capital  conspicuous  socially  in  the 
colonial  annals  of  the  country,  and  of  which  we  have 
such  enchanting  glimpses  in  the  old  homes  of  Annapolis. 
Just  what  were  this  life  and  spirit?  Whatever  we  may 
read  or  say  about  these  conditions  is  applicable  to  the 
Brice  House. 

The  Abbe  Rodin,  of  France,  who  visited  the  colonies 
just  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  and  on  his 
return  home  wrote  such  interesting  memoirs  of  his  trip 
in  his  "  Nouveau  Voyage  dans  TAmerique,"  after 
speaking  of  the  elegance  of  Maryland  plantation  homes, 
says  of  the  life  in  Annapolis : 

There  appears  to  be  more  wealth  and  luxury  in  Annapolis 
than  in  any  other  city  which  I  have  visited  in  this  country. 
The  extravagance  of  the  women  here  surpasses  that  of  our 
own  provinces ;  a  French  hair-dresser  is  a  man  of  great  im- 
portance; one  lady  here  pays  her  coiffeur  a  salary  of  a 
thousand  crowns. 

A  gifted  modern  writer,  Sidney  George  Fisher,  look- 
ing through  the  years  has  written  of  the  life  in  An- 

50 


1  i 


-  2 

o  M 

a 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 


napolis  prior  to  the  Revolution  in  the  following  terms  in 
"  Colonial  Men,  Women  and  Manners:  "* 

In  the  harbor  of  Annapolis  in  plain  sight  from  most  of  the 
houses,  lay  vessels  from  aU  parts  of  the  world,  for  the  little 
town  had  its  commercial  day  before  the  rise  of  Baltimore.  The 
houses  were  in  the  most  perfect  forms  of  the  colonial  archi- 
tecture. .  .  .  The  men  and  women,  who,  like  the  rest  of  the 
Maryland  gentry,  ordered  champagne  from  Europe  by  the 
cask,  and  madeira  by  the  pipe,  also  dressed  expensively  in  the 
latest  English  fashions,  and  French  travellers  said  that  they 
had  seldom  seen  such  clothes  outside  of  Paris.  They  had 
French  barbers,  negro  slaves  in  livery,  and  drove  light  carriages, 
— an  extremely  rare  indulgence  in  colonial  times.  The  clubs 
got  up  excursions,  picnics,  and  fishing  parties.  Balls  were 
given  on  all  the  great  English  anniversaries,  and  the  birthday 
of  the  proprietor  and  saints'  days  were  used  as  excuses. 

They  gambled,  of  course,  after  the  universal  custom  of 
the  times,  flirted,  or  pretended  to  flirt,  like  the  modem  Mary- 
lander,  discussed  the  last  vessels  from  England,  the  prospects 
of  the  tobacco  crop,  and  the  quarrels  of  the  proprietors  and 
the  crown.  Visitors  were  frequent  from  the  northern  and 
southern  colonies.  In  spring  the  wealthy  people  departed  for 
their  manors  or  country  places  in  great  coaches  of  light  yellow 
color  with  Venetian  windows  and  projecting  lamps. 

The  history  of  Annapolis  goes  back  to  the  year 
1649,  when  it  was  settled  by  Puritan  refugees  from 
Virginia,  who  found  under  Lord  Baltimore  the  liberty 
of  worship  which  they  could  not  secure  elsewhere.  In 
1683  it  was  erected  into  a  town,  in  1694  became  the 
capital  of  the  colony,  and  between  1750  and  the  out- 

*  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  publishers,  Philadelphia. 

51 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

break  of  the  Revolution  saw  its  most  brilliant  days. 
Though  founded  by  Puritans,  so  rapidly  did  it  change 
its  character  that,  in  1749,  we  find  an  old  record  de- 
scribing it  in  the  following  terms: 

The  outlook  of  the  city  was  fair  and  promising,  its  mer- 
chants had  secured  the  chief  trade  of  the  province;  ships  from 
all  seas  came  to  its  harbour ;  its  endowed  school  (King  William's) 
educated  its  citizens  for  important  positions ;  its  thought  made 
the  mind  of  the  province.  The  gayety  of  its  inhabitants,  and 
their  love  of  refined  pleasure  had  developed  the  race-course, 
the  theatre,  the  ball-room;  their  love  of  learning,  the  Gazette 
and  King  William's  school ;  creations  and  enterprises  that  made 
the  province  famous  in  after  years  as  the  centre  of  the  social 
pleasures,  of  the  culture  and  of  the  refinement  of  the  American 
colonies. 

It  is  in  the  letters  of  William  Eddis,  published  by 
him  in  London  in  1792,  under  the  patronage  of  "  many 
influential  personages,"  that  we  can  best  visit  Annapolis, 
however.  This  prolific  correspondent  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  loan  office  of  Maryland  by  pro- 
prietary appointment,  and  whatever  he  saw  he  seems 
to  have  recorded  and  sent  "  home  "  in  his  voluminous 
outpourings  to  relatives  and  friends  in  England.  He 
describes  his  impressions  on  landing  at  Annapolis,  his 
presence  at  balls,  his  opinions  on  prominent  men.  Like 
Pepys,  nothing  human  seems  to  have  been  too  trivial  for 
him  to  set  down. 

He  goes  to  the  Governor's  ball  in  February,  1770, 
shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Annapolis,  and  is  much  im- 

52 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 


pressed.     The  ladies'  manners  and  converse  also  strike 
him,  as  do  the  winter  sports  of  the  little  city: 

On  Saturday  last,  our  little  city  appeared  in  all  its  splen- 
dour. It  was  the  anniversary  of  the  proprietary's  birth.  The 
Governor  gave  a  grand  entertainment  on  the  occasion  to  a 
numerous  party ;  the  company  brought  with  them  every  dis- 
position to  render  each  other  happy,  and  the  festivity  con- 
cluded with  cards  and  dancing,  which  engaged  the  attention 
of  their  respective  votaries  till  an  early  hour. 

I  am  persuaded  there  is  not  a  town  in  England  of  the  same 
size  as  Annapolis,  which  can  boast  of  a  greater  number  of 
fashionable  and  handsome  women;  and,  were  I  not  satisfied 
to  the  contrary,  I  should  suppose  that  the  majority  of  our 
belles  possessed  every  advantage  of  a  long  and  familiar  inter- 
course with  the  manners  and  habits  of  your  great  metropolis. 

During  the  winter  there  are  assemblies  every  fortnight,  the 
room  for  dancing  is  large,  the  construction  elegant,  and  the 
whole  illuminated  to  great  advantage.  At  each  extremity  are 
apartments  for  the  card  tables,  where  select  companies  enjoy 
the  circulation  of  the  parti-colored  gentry,  without  having 
their  attention  diverted  by  the  sound  of  fiddles  and  the  evolu- 
tions of  youthful  performers. 

About  Christmas  an  intense  frost  set  in,  which  has  con- 
tinued till  a  few  days  since,  with  unremitting  severity.  Our 
principal  rivers,  for  several  weeks,  have  been  passable  for 
carriages  heavily  laden;  and  in  particular  situations,  innumer- 
able skaters  have  exhibited  on  the  glassy  surface  their  feats 
of  dexterity. 

January  18,  1771. — In  a  former  letter,  I  attempted  to  con- 
vey some  idea  of  the  truly  picturesque  and  beautiful  situation 
of  our  little  capital.  Several  of  the  most  opulent  families  have 
here  established  their  residence ;  and  hospitality  is  characteristic 
of  the  inhabitants.  Party  prejudices  have  little  influence  on 
social  intercourse;  the  grave  and  ancient  enjoy  the  blessings 

53 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

of  a  respectable  society,  while  the  young  and  gay  have  various 
amusements  to  engage  their  hours  of  relaxation,  and  to  promote 
that  mutual  connection  so  essential  to  their  future  happiness. 
You  will  know  that  I  have  ever  been  strongly  attached  to 
the  rational  entertainments  resulting  from  theatrical  exhibi- 
tions. When  I  bade  farewell  to  England,  I  little  expected  that 
my  passion  for  the  drama  could  have  been  gratified,  in  any 
tolerable  degree,  at  a  distance  so  remote  from  the  great  mart 
of  genius ;  and  I  brought  with  me  strong  prepossessions  in 
behalf  of  favorite  performers,  whose  merits  were  fully  estab- 
lished by  the  universal  sanction  of  intelligent  judges.  My 
pleasure  and  my  surprise  were  therefore  excited  in  proportion, 
on  finding  performers  in  this  country  equal,  at  least,  to  those 
who  sustain  the  best  of  the  first  characters  in  your  most 
celebrated  provincial  theatres. 

He  finds  that  the  "  phantom  "  of  pleasure  is  pursued 
with  avidity: 

November  ^,  1771. — In  this  remote  region,  my  dear  friend, 
the  phantom  pleasure  is  pursued  with  as  much  avidity  as  on 
your  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  certainly  with  as  much  gratifica- 
tion, except  by  the  injudicious  herd  who  form  ideas  of  happiness 
from  comparison  alone. 

Our  races,  which  are  just  concluded,  continued  four  days, 
and  afforded  excellent  amusement  to  those  who  are  attached 
to  the  pleasures  of  the  turf;  and,  surprising  as  it  may  appear, 
I  assure  you  there  are  few  meetings  in  England  better  attended, 
or  where  more  capital  horses  are  exhibited.  .   .   . 

Nothing  could  excel  the  charming  serenity  of  the  weather 
during  these  races,  in  consequence  of  which  there  was  a  pro- 
digious concourse  of  spectators,  and  considerable  sums  were 
depending  on  the  contest  of  each  day.  On  the  first,  a  purse 
of  one  hundred  guineas  was  run  for,  free  only  for  the  members 
of  the  club;   and   on   the  three   following   days    subscription 

54 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 


purses  of  fifty  pounds  each.  Assemblies,  and  theatrical  repre- 
sentations, were  the  amusements  of  the  evening,  at  which  the 
company  exhibited  a  fashionable  and  brilliant  appearance. 

December  24->  1771. — ^Whatever  you  have  heard  relative  to 
the  rigid  puritanical  principles  and  economical  habits  of  our 
American  brethren  is  by  no  means  true  when  applied  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  southern  provinces.  Liberality  of  senti- 
ment and  genuine  hospitality  are  everywhere  prevalent;  and 
I  am  persuaded  they  too  frequently  mistake  profuseness  for 
generosity,  and  impair  their  wealth  and  their  fortunes,  by 
splendour  of  appearance  and  magnificence  of  entertainment. 

The  quick  importation  of  fashions  from  the  mother  country 
is  really  astonishing.  I  am  almost  inclined  to  believe  that  a 
new  fashion  is  adopted  earlier  by  the  polished  and  affluent 
Americans  than  by  many  opulent  persons  in  the  great  metropo- 
lis ;  nor  are  opportunities  wanting  to  display  superior  elegance. 
We  have  varied  amusements  and  numerous  parties,  which  afi'ord 
to  the  young,  the  gay,  and  the  ambitious,  an  extensive  field 
to  contend  in  the  race  of  vain  and  idle  competition.  In  short, 
very  little  difference  is,  in  reality,  observable  in  the  manners  of 
the  wealthy  colonist  and  the  wealthy  Briton. 

It  is  but  just  to  confess  that  the  American  ladies  possess 
a  natural  ease  and  elegance  in  the  whole  of  their  deportment; 
and  that,  while  they  assiduously  cultivate  external  accomplish- 
ments, they  are  still  anxiously  attentive  to  the  more  important 
embellishments  of  the  mind.  In  conversation  they  are  generally 
animated  and  entertaining,  and  deliver  their  sentiments  with 
affability  and  propriety.  In  a  word,  there  are,  throughout 
these  colonies,  very  many  lovely  women,  who  have  never  been 
beyond  the  bounds  of  their  respective  provinces,  and  yet, 
I  am  persuaded,  might  appear  to  great  advantage  in  the  most 
brilliant   circles   of  gaiety   and  'fashion. 

One  of  the  frequent  visitors  to  Annapolis  during 
its  days  of  gaiety  before  the  Revolution  was  General 

55 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Washington,  then  in  the  service  of  Virginia.  In  one 
of  Eddis'  later  letters,  written  during  the  turmoil  of  the 
first  days  of  the  Revolution,  he  speaks  of  his  appoint- 
ment as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  colonies 
by  the  Continental  Congress,  with  whom,  he  goes  on  to 
say: 

"  beneath  the  hospitable  roof  of  our  worthy  Governor,  I  have 
so  frequently  shared  the  hour  of  social  and  sentimental  dis- 
course. Little  did  I  then  conceive  that  he  was  destined  to  be 
called  forth  by  the  united  voice  of  America,  from  the  private 
occupation  of  domestic  tranquillity,  to  direct  hostile  operations 
against  the  measures  of  the  British  Government.  Reserved 
in  conversation,  but  liberal  in  opinion,  his  actions  have,  hitherto, 
been  directed  by  calmness  and  moderation." 

A  sidelight  on  the  polite  life  of  Annapolis  before 
the  Revolution  may  be  found  in  the  advertising  columns 
of  the  Maryland  Gazette  published  by  Jonas  Green, 
Esq.  Here,  for  instance,  is  one  who  offers  himself  as 
a  servant.  His  qualifications  are  that  he  "  can  wait  at 
table,  curry  horses,  clean  knives,  boots  and  shoes,  lay 
a  table,  shave,  and  dress  wigs,  carry  a  lantern  and  talk 
French."  He  is  "  as  honest  as  the  times  will  admit,  and 
as  sober  as  can  be." 

Richard  WagstafFe, — 

peruke  and  lady's  tate-maker,  wishes  to  announce  that  he  will 
soon  settle  in  Annapolis  and  follow  the  said  business,  and  will 
sell  his  goods  at  reasonable  rates.  He  also  intends  to  teach  read- 
ing, writing  and  accounts ;  and  will  take  in  youth  to  board  and 

56 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 


educate  at  twenty-three  pounds  per  year.  N.B. — He  has  a 
few  perukes  ready  made  which  he  will  dispose  of  very  cheap, 
such  as  Ramillies,  Albemarles  and  Bols,  etc. 

The  profession  of  clock-mender  seems  to  have  been 
one  without  many  professors,  as  the  following  advertise- 
ment will  signify: 

Whereas  John  Powell  was  advertised  last  week  in  this 
paper  as  a  runaway,  but  only  being  gone  into  the  country  a 
cider  drinking,  and  being  returned  again  to  his  master's  ser- 
vice, these  are  therefore  to  acquaint  all  gentlemen  and  others, 
who  have  any  watches  or  clocks  to  repair,  that  they  may  have 
them  done  in  the  best  manner  at  reasonable  rates. 

Perhaps  no  such  unique  souvenir  of  colonial  days 
exists  as  the  records  of  the  "  Tuesday  Club,"  of  Annapo- 
lis, preserved  in  the  rooms  of  the  Maryland  Historical 
Society  of  Baltimore.  These  cover  a  period  of  years. 
The  club  was  an  organization  of  the  wits  and  influential 
men  of  the  city.  Formed  with  no  other  purpose  than 
that  of  good  fellowship,  it  met  every  Tuesday  in  regular 
alternation  at  the  homes  of  the  members,  who  in  turn 
provided  the  refreshments,  which  consisted  of  a  "  gam- 
mon of  bacon,  or  any  one  other  dish  of  vituals  and  no 
more,"  and  such  drinkables  as  might  be  proved  necessary. 
Offensive  topics  of  conversation  were  dealt  with  by  the 
"  gelastic  "  method,  that  is,  every  man  present  except 
the  one  (or  ones)  talking  burst  into  a  hearty  fit  of 
laughter,  which  they  kept  up  until  a  new  theme  of  dis- 

57 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

course  was  brought  up.  Politics  was  absolutely  barred, 
as  a  subject  of  talk,  from  the  gatherings.  The  first 
toast,  it  was  ordered,  should  be  "  The  Ladies,"  after 
that  "  The  King,"  and  then  "  The  Deluge."  From  the 
records  of  the  club,  let  us  glance  at  "  the  humble  petition 
and  remonstrance  of  sundry  of  the  single  females  of 
Annapolis "  to  the  "  Honorable  President,"  then 
Charles  Cole.    This  showeth  that — 

Whereas,  it  has  been  observed  by  sundry  persons  as  well 
as  your  petitioners,  that  a  singular  and  surprising  success 
has  all  along  attended  such  happy  females  as  your  honor  has 
been  pleased  to  pitch  upon  as  the  toasts  of  the  honorable 
chair,  every  one  of  whom  in  a  short  time  after  having  been 
adopted  by  your  honor  has  successfully  and  happily  been 
provided  with  a  much  more  eligible  estate,  your  petitioners, 
therefore,  earnestly  pray  that  your  honor,  instead  of  con- 
ferring your  favors  in  so  partial  a  manner,  would,  in  com- 
miseration of  our  desperate  situation,  include  us  all  in  the 
circle  of  favor  that  the  benign  influence  of  your  honor's  marti- 
ferous  notice  may  henceforth  shine  upon  us  all. 

The  Honorable  President  declared  that  he  would 
grant  this  petition  as  far  as  lay  in  his  power. 

Jonas  Green,  the  venerable  publisher  of  the  Mary- 
land Gazette,  seems  to  have  found  himself  in  ill-favor 
at  one  session  of  the  club,  for  we  find  that, — 

after  reading  the  sentence,  during  which  Jonas  Green,  Esq., 
stood  up,  His  Lordship  knocked  upon  the  table  with  a  little 
mallet  after  the  manner  of  Sir  Hugh  McCarty,  Esq.,  Lord 
President  of  the  Monday  Club  of  New  York,  and  this  signal 

58 


THE  BRICE  HOUSE 


being  given,  the  Sargeant-at-Arms  took  Jonas  Green,  Esq., 
into  custody,  and  he  was  confined  for  a  full  half  hour,  a 
languishing  prisoner  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  being  deprived 
of  all  comfort  and  assistance  from  the  sparkling  and  enliven- 
ing board,  a  woeful  and  lamentable  spectacle,  and  a  warning 
to  all  loyal  members  to  be  upon  their  good  behaviour. 

The  entry  was  made  that  William  Thornton,  be- 
cause of  his  wonderful  talent  for  singing,  was  created 
by  unanimous  vote,  "  Proto-Musicus,"  and  that  "  it  is 
ordained  that,  as  often  as  he  votes  in  club,  he  is  to  sing 
his  vote  in  a  musical  manner,  else  it  is  to  go  for  nothing." 

Alas,  this  gay  life  had  to  end!  With  the  outbreak 
of  the  Revolution  the  cavalier  days  of  the  *'  Athens  of 
America  "  left,  to  return  no  more,  some  of  the  actors 
on  its  little  stage  taking  part  in  the  great  conflict  just 
opening,  others  going  "  home  "  to  the  mother  country ; 
and  from  this  time  on  the  little  city's  importance  as  the 
social  capital  of  the  country  dwindled.  It  was  an  aristo- 
crat in  tradition  and  did  not  survive  the  inauguration 
of  the  great  experiment  in  democracy.  Thus  passed 
the  glory  of  the  Brice  mansion  and  its  neighbors. 


RIDOUT  HOUSE 

ANNAPOLIS.  MARYLAND 
RIDOUT 


I  HE  Ridout  House,  Annapolis,  is 
situated  on  Duke  of  Gloucester 
Street,  not  far  from  the  water 
front.  It  is  a  two-story  building 
without  wings,  and  is  chiefly  re- 
markable architecturally  for  the 
very  beautiful  garden  doorway 
which  graces  the  rear  of  the  structure.  It  was  built  in 
1763  by  John  Ridout,  Secretary  to  Governor  Sharpe, 
for  his  bride,  Mary  Ogle,  whom  he  married  in  1765. 

The  garden  doorway  consists  of  a  large  portico  at 
the  head  of  a  long  flight  of  steps  leading  from  the 
garden.  Above  it  is  a  fine  Palladian  window,  whose 
apex  breaks  the  cornice  of  the  house.  The  garden,  itself, 
is  a  beautiful  spot  to-day,  though  not  so  lovely  as  when 
the  house  was  new.  It  consists  of  a  series  of  terraces 
to  the  water-front  street  of  Annapolis,  and  in  other  days 
led  direct  to  the  water  itself. 

The  interior  of  the  house  contains  much  fine  carving. 
As  you  enter  the  reception  hall  through  the  simple 
Georgian  front  door,  the  stairway  is  to  the  left;  to  the 
right  is  the  dining-room.  In  the  rear  of  the  first  floor 
are  two  rooms,  a  study  and  a  parlour,  to  the  latter  of 
which  the  garden  doorway  gives  entrance. 

The  house  contains  a  rich  store  of  old  furniture  and 

60 


RIDOUT  HOUSE 


colonial  souvenirs.  On  the  heavy  old  sideboard  in  the 
dining-room  are  two  mahogany  knife-boxes  and  a  spoon 
urn  of  mahogany  made  in  the  same  style  as  the  knife- 
boxes.  In  the  hall  is  the  table  at  which  the  owner  of 
the  house  so  often  dined,  and  a  harpsichord  that  was 
sent,  in  1764,  as  a  wedding  present  from  Lady  Essex 
in  England  to  her  cousin,  Mary  Ogle,  in  the  New 
World.  The  work  table  of  Mary  Ogle's  mother  is  still 
to  be  seen  in  a  sunny  window  of  the  library,  overlooking 
the  terraced  garden  in  which  she  spent  so  much  of  her 
time. 

There  is  no  more  romantic  story  in  the  annals  of 
old  Annapolis  than  that  of  the  rise  to  fortune  in  the 
New  World  of  young  John  Ridout,  Governor  Sharpe's 
secretary  and  bosom  friend.  He  is  first  to  be  seen  in 
Annapolis  when  Horatio  Sharpe  arrived  early  on  the 
morning  of  Thursday,  August  16,  1753,  to  take  up  his 
duties  as  proprietary  governor  in  the  Province  of  Mary- 
land. Accompanying  Sharpe,  also,  was  Dr.  Upton 
Scott,  builder  of  the  Scott  House  of  Annapolis,  and 
founder  of  another  family  in  IMaryland  which  has  been 
conspicuous  in  public  and  private  life. 

John  Ridout  was  at  this  time  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  He  was  a  grave,  sober,  older-than-his-years  young 
man,  who  had  spent  the  preceding  six  years  of  his  life 
at  the  University  of  Oxford,  England,  and  had  taken 
high  honors  as  a  Greek  and  Latin  student.  We  have 
the  following  record  of  the  Ridout  family  in  Lady 

61 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Edgar's  (herself  a  Ridout  connection)  invaluable  work, 
"  A  Colonial  Governor  in  Maryland :  " 

The  Ridouts  (spelt  also  Rideout),  of  Sherborne,  were  de- 
scendants of  Thomas  Ridout  of  Henstridge,  Somerset.  The 
family  came  originally  from  France  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Fontainebleau  and  settled  in  England  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

In  Hutchins'  "  Visitation  of  the  Somerset,"  now  in  the 
College  of  Arms,  London,  mention  is  made  of  the  granting  of 
a  coat-of-arms,  in  1551,  to  Thomas  Ridout  of  Henstridge. 
These  arms  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  those  borne  by  the 
de  Ridouts  de  Sance  (see  Hozier's  Armorial  General  of  the 
French  Nobility),  near  Fontainebleau. 

In  the  will  of  Walter  Ridout,  of  Langhn,  Dorset,  a  de- 
scendant of  Thomas,  dated  1582',  among  other  legacies  he 
bequeaths  a  large  sum  of  money  to  the  church  at  Fontainebleau. 
Christopher  Ridout,  son  of  Thomas,  was  baptized  at  Henstridge, 
Somerset,  24th  November,  1664,  and  settled  in  Sherborne,  Dor- 
set. His  eldest  son,  George,  bom  at  Sherborne  in  1702,  was  the 
father  of  the  John  Ridout  who  came  to  America  with  Horatio 
Sharpe. 

Another  descendant  of  Thomas,  of  Henstridge,  settled  in 
Bristol,  and  mention  is  made  in  Hutchins'  of  the  marriage 
in  1674,  of  Susannah,  daughter  of  John  Ridout,  of  Bristol,  to 
Thomas  Strangways,  of  Melbury,  Dorsetshire.  Their  grand- 
daughter, Elizabeth,  married  Stephen  Fox,  who  was  created 
Earl  of  Ilchester. 

Young  Ridout  entered  immediately  upon  his  duties, 
and  with  such  devotion  and  intelligence  that  he  soon 
became  his  master's  mainstay.  In  1757,  he  was  sent  on  a 
mission  to  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  western  Maryland 

62 


RIDOUT  HOUSE 


in  company  with  Mr.  Daniel  Westenholme,  one  of  the 
most  important  men  of  the  province,  and  with  a  wagon- 
load  of  presents,  to  secure  their  alliance  with  the  English 
as  opposed  to  the  French  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars 
then  raging.  This  was  a  very  important  undertaking, 
and  the  fact  that  young  Ridout  was  despatched  upon  it 
four  years  after  his  arrival  in  the  province  shows  how 
rapid  was  his  rise  to  favour  with  Governor  Sharpe. 

Three  years  after  this  he  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council,  and  this  so  incited  the  jealousy  of 
certain  individuals  of  the  province  that  they  wrote  a 
long  letter  of  expostulation  to  Secretary  Calvert. 
Governor  Sharpe  defended  his  protege  in  the  following 
reply: 

* 
I  am  confident  there  is  not  a  gentleman  in  the  Province, 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Ridout,  who  does  not  condemn  the  author 
for  expressing  himself  after  that  manner.  He  is,  I  am  satis- 
fied, well  esteemed  by  most  of  the  Principal  people  in  the 
Province  that  know  him,  particularly  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Council.  Who,  pray,  are  said  to  be  those  persons  of  Rank, 
Fortune,  and  Superior  Capacity  whose  long  course  of  im- 
portant services  have  gone  unrewarded.''  If  there  are  any, 
either  in  or  out  of  the  Council,  who  have  devoted  as  much  time 
to  the  business  of  his  Lordship  and  the  Government  as  Mr. 
Ridout  hath  already  done,  who  are  better  acquainted  with  the 
Constitution  or  political  history  of  the  Province,  and  have  so 
much  inclination  to  serve  his  Lordship,  the  Letter  writer  would 
have  done  well  to  point  them  out. 

In  this  letter,  too,  is  the  first  mention  of  Ridout's 

63 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

proposed  marriage  to  Mary  Ogle,  daughter  of  former 
Governor  Samuel  Ogle  and  Anne  Tasker,  whose  father, 
Benjamin  Tasker,  was  one  of  the  most  notable  figures 
in  the  early  history  of  Maryland.  An  alliance  with  her 
family  would  make  Ridout's  position  in  the  New  World 
absolutely  unassailable.    Sharpe  continues  indignantly: 

Even  his  not  having  been  born  in  Maryland  was  mentioned 
as  what  ought  to  have  been  an  insuperable  objection  to  his 
promotion;  and  as  he  had  no  family  connection  or  large  estate 
here  it  was  insinuated  that  he  had  no  inducement  to  consult  and 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  Province.  As  Mr.  Ridout  is  with 
my  consent  and  approbation,  as  well  as  with  that  of  Mr. 
Tasker,  her  grandfather  and  guardian,  about  to  make  an 
alliance  with  the  eldest  daughter  and  eldest  child  of  the  late 
Governor  Ogle,  those  who  may  have  hitherto  considered  him 
an  aHen,  and  not  interested  in  the  Prosperity  of  the  Province, 
will  not  long  have  an  opportunity  of  mentioning  his  want  of 
connections  here  as  either  a  fault  or  a  misfortune. 

If  tradition  be  true,  Governor  Sharpe's  fine  scorn 
was  an  evidence  of  the  magnanimity  of  his  character,  as 
he,  himself,  was  said  to  be  in  love  with  the  fair  Mary 
Ogle.  Whether  this  story  be  true  or  not,  he  spent  his 
life  a  bachelor,  and  throughout  the  rest  of  his  days 
showed  a  most  devoted  interest  in  the  Ridouts  and  their 
children. 

In  1765,  John  Ridout  was  married  to  Mary  Ogle, 
and  took  his  young  bride  to  the  beautiful  old  house  on 
Duke  of  Gloucester  Street. 

Here  they  entertained  lavishly,  and  brought  many  a 

64 


o 


entrancp:  to  the  ridout  house 

1763 


RIDOUT  HOUSE 


brilliant  company  together  within  their  doors.  That 
George  Washington  before  the  Revolution  was  a  guest 
of  Mr.  Ridout's  is  evidenced  by  extracts  from  his  diary : 

September,  1771. — On  a  visit  to  Annapolis.  September 
24th. — Dined  with  the  Governor  and  went  to  the  Play  and  the 
Ball  afterwards.  September  25th. — ^Dined  at  Doctor  Stewart^s 
and  went  to  the  Play  and  Ball  afterwards.  September  26th. — 
Dined  at  Mr.  Ridout's  and  went  to  the  Play.  September  27th. — 
Dined  at  Mr.  Carroll's  and  went  to  the  Ball.  September 
28th. — Dined  at  Mr.  Boucher's  and  went  from  there  to  the 
Play  and  aftenvards  to  the  Coffee  House. 

October  4th,  1772. — Set  off  for  the  Annapolis  Races. 
Dined  and  Lodged  at  Mr.  Boucher's.  October  5th. — Reached 
Annapolis.  Dined  at  the  Coffee  House  with  the  Kosky  Club 
and  lodged  at  the  Governor's  after  going  to  the  Play.  October 
6th. — Dined  at  Major  Jenifer's,  went  to  the  Ball,  and  Supped 
at  the  Governor's.  October  7th. — Dined  at  the  Governor's 
and  went  to  the  Play  afterwards.  October  8th. — Dined  at 
Mr.  Lloyd's  and  went  to  the  Play;  from  thence  early  to  my 
Lodgings.  October  9th. — Dined  at  Mr.  Ridout's,  and  went 
to  the  Play  and  to  the  Governor's  to  supper.  October  10th. — 
Dined  with  Mr.  Carroll  of  CarroUton,  and  set  out  for  Mr. 
Boucher's,  at  which  place  I  arrived  about  eight  o'clock. 
October  11th. — Got  home  to  a  late  dinner;  John  Parke  Custis 
came  with  me. 

September  26th,  1773. — I  set  off  for  the  Annapolis  Races. 
Dined  at  Mr.  Rollin's  and  got  into  Annapolis  between  five 
and  six  o'clock.  Spent  the  evening  and  lodged  at  the  Governor's. 
September  27th. — Dined  at  the  Governor's  and  went  to  the 
Play  in  the  Evening.  September  28th. — Again  dined  at  the 
Governor's  and  went  to  the  Play  and  the  Ball  in  the  Evening. 
September  29th. — Dined  at  Mr.  Sprigg's  and  went  to  the 
Play  in  the  Evening.  September  30th. — Dined  at  Mr.  Ridout's 
5  65 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

and  spent  the  afternoon.  Supped  at  Mr.  Jenifer's  and  spent 
the  Evening.  October  1st. — Still  at  Annapolis.  Dined  with 
Mr.  Ogle.  Spent  the  Evening  at  the  Governor's.  October 
2nd. — Set  off  on  my  return  home.  Dined  at  Marlborough  and 
Lodged  at  home.    Mr.  Custis  came  with  me. 

In  the  troublous  days  which  preceded  the  Revolu- 
tion, Ridout  stood  loyal  to  the  crown,  and  threw  all  of 
his  influence  towards  reconciliation  with  the  mother 
country.  That  his  efforts  were  very  powerful  is  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  Samuel  Chase,  called  the  "  torch 
of  the  Revolution,"  and  his  adherents  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  obtaining  the  vote  of  the  Assembly  for 
independence. 

When  Sharpe  went  to  England  in  1773,  he  ap- 
pointed Ridout  his  agent  in  this  country,  and,  when  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution  came,  Ridout  retired  to 
Whitehall,  Sharpe's  country  home,  closing  up  his  town 
house  in  Annapolis.  His  servants  were  drafted  for  the 
war,  and  the  price  of  provisions  became  exorbitant,  so, 
with  Mrs.  Ridout,  he  took  refuge  in  a  log  cabin  at  Tono- 
loway,  Virginia,  on  the  Potomac  River.  His  son  Horace 
was  sent  to  a  boarding  school  in  Frederick  County, 
three  thousand  pounds  of  the  Continental  currency 
being  paid  for  his  education.  As,  in  1780,  Continental 
money  had  fallen  in  value  to  two  cents  on  the  dollar, 
this  sum  was  not  so  prodigious  as  it  first  seems. 

In  1789,  Mr.  Ridout  made  arrangements  for  a  long- 
deferred  trip  to  England  to  visit  Colonel  Sharpe,  and 

66 


RIDOUT  HOUSE 


actually  made  embarkation  from  Alexandria,  but  the 
ship  sprung  a  leak  after  being  out  two  weeks,  and  was 
obliged  to  return.  In  1790,  came  the  sad  news  of 
Horatio  Sharpe's  death  at  Hampstead,  England,  in  the 
seventy-second  year  of  his  age.  Ridout  survived  his 
friend  only  seven  years,  dying  in  1797  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five  years.  He  was  laid  to  rest  at  Whitehall,  which, 
as  has  been  told  in  another  chapter,  was  left  to  him  by 
the  will  of  Governor  Sharpe. 

The  issue  of  John  Ridout  and  Mary  Ogle,  his  wife, 
were  two  sons  and  a  daughter:  Samuel,  Horatio,  and 
Anne  Tasker  (Ridout). 

Samuel,  the  eldest  son,  was  educated  abroad,  and  on 
his  return  entered  Mr.  Stone's  office  in  Annapolis  for 
the  study  of  law.  He  married,  in  1790,  Mary  Grafton 
Addison,  a  descendant  of  Col.  John  Addison,  brother 
of  the  famous  William  Addison,  and  died,  in  1840,  in  the 
old  house  on  Duke  of  Gloucester  Street  where  he  was 
born.  His  grandson.  Dr.  William  Grafton  Ridout,  is 
the  present  holder  of  the  old  mansion.  Dr.  Ridout's 
family  consists  of  his  son,  Dr.  John  Ridout,  and  a 
daughter,  Mrs.  Ligon,  of  Howard  County,  Maryland. 

Horatio  Ridout,  John  Ridout's  second  son,  married 
Rachel  Goldsborough,  and  lived  at  Whitehall. 


SCOTT  HOUSE 

ANNAPOLIS.  MARYLAND 

SCOTT— KEY— BIRNEY— CLAUDE— SISTERS  OF  MERCY 
—SISTERS  OF  NOTRE  DAME 

HE  most  beautiful  hallway  among 
all  of  the  exquisite  colonial  man- 
sions in  Annapolis,  Maryland,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Scott  House, 
on  Shipwright  Street,  now  the 
home  of  the  Sisters  of  Notre 
Dame.  It  is  a  square  hallway 
about  thirty  feet  each  way,  with  stairs  on  the  right  de- 
scending away  from  the  door.  Immediately  facing  the 
entrance  is  an  arch  beneath  which  a  small  hall  leads  to 
the  back  door.  Flanking  the  front  door  on  each  side 
are  sunny  windows.  All  of  the  woodwork  of  the  hall 
and  the  stair  is  wonderfulh^  carved  in  a  design  whose 
grace,  precision,  and  charm  have  been  commented  upon 
and  admired  by  many  artists. 

The  house  is  two  and  a  half  stories  in  height  and  is 
a  square,  single  structure  without  wings.  The  grounds 
around  it  have  been  excellently  maintained  and  in  the 
rear  is  a  garden  which  is  worked  by  the  Sisters  of  Notre 
Dame.  The  front  door  is  very  simple  in  construction 
and  chaste  in  design  and  resembles  greatly  the  main 
doorway  of  !Montpelier,  the  old  Snowden  homestead  in 
Prince  George's  County. 

Inside  the  house  the  rooms  on  the  first  floor  are  ar- 


es 


n    O 


SCOTT  HOUSE 


ranged  symmetrically  with  regard  to  the  hallway — ^two 
on  each  side — and  the  disposition  of  the  rooms  on  the 
floor  above  is  very  similar.  In  the  rear  room  on  the 
second  floor  to  the  right,  Governor  Eden,  the  last 
proprietary  executive  of  Maryland,  died,  on  his  visit  to 
Annapolis  immediately  after  the  termination  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.  This  room  is  now  used  as  a  chapel 
by  the  Sisters  and  is  rarely  shown  to  visitors. 

The  Scott  House  was  built  by  Upton  Scott,  physi- 
cian to  Governor  Horatio  Sharpe,  of  Maryland,  about 
1760,  upon  his  marriage  to  the  heiress,  Elizabeth  Ross, 
daughter  of  John  Ross,  of  Frederick  County.  He 
accompanied  the  beloved  bachelor  governor  of  Mary- 
land to  this  country,  in  1753,  and  had,  as  his  companions 
and  as  fellow- venturers  with  Sharpe,  John  Ridout, 
founder  of  the  Ridout  family  in  Maryland,  and  Daniel 
Wostenholme,  progenitor  of  another  distinguished  line 
in  the  state. 

Doctor  Upton  Scott  was  born  in  the  year  1722  at 
Temple  Patrick,  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  and  received 
his  early  education  at  Dublin  University.  After 
graduation  he  served  as  a  surgeon  under  General,  then 
Colonel,  Wolfe  in  Scotland.  During  this  campaign  he 
met  and  formed  a  friendship  for  the  future  governor 
of  Maryland.  In  order  to  accompany  Sharpe  to  the 
New  World,  he  gave  up  his  commission,  bearing  with 
him  to  America,   as   a  token   of  remembrance   from 

09 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

General  Wolfe,  a  pair  of  pistols  now  in  the  possession 
of  Major  Rogers  Birnie,  of  the  Ordnance,  U.  S.  A. 

When  Governor  Sharpe  died  in  1789,  he  appointed 
Scott  one  of  the  trustees  of  his  will,  with  Benjamin 
Ogle  as  his  associate. 

The  father  of  Elizabeth  Ross,  Doctor  Scott's  bride, 
was  the  Register  of  the  Land  Office  of  Maryland  and 
was  the  builder  of  Belvoir,  the  beautiful  old  homestead 
at  the  head  of  the  Severn  River,  not  far  from  Annapolis, 
which  has  been  long  associated  with  the  name  of  Worth- 
ington.  Elizabeth's  sister  was  Ann  Arnold  Ross  Key, 
grandmother  of  Francis  Scott  Key. 

So  famous  did  Doctor  Scott  become  as  a  physician 
that  he  was  frequently  sent  for  on  consultation  from  the 
other  colonies  of  America  and  it  is  said  that  when 
General  Wolfe  lay  dying  at  Quebec  he  expressed  a 
wish  to  have  his  old  comrade  prescribe  for  him.  He 
lived  to  a  green  old  age,  dying  when  he  had  rounded 
out  ninety  years  of  life.  He  was  buried  at  Cemetery 
Creek,  Annapolis,  where  his  tombstone  may  still  be 
seen.    The  inscription  on  his  grave  is  simple  and  reads: 

Dr.  Upton  Scott,  died  1814,  aged  92  years.  Native  of 
Antrim,  Ireland,  and  for  60  years  a  distinguished  and  re- 
spected inhabitant  of  this  city. 

His  wife's  tomb  is  near  and  the  inscription  reads: 

In  memory  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Scott,  beloved  and  respected 
by  all  who  knew  her,  died  1819,  80  years. 

70 


14 


SCOTT  HOUSE 


After  the  death  of  its  first  master  and  niistress,  the 
old  homestead  was  held  by  the  Keys  and  Birneys,  their 
nearest  of  kin  and  heirs,  and  shortly  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Dennis  Claude,  from  whom  it  was  pur- 
chased by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  about  the  middle  of  the 
last  century  and  from  whom,  in  turn,  it  shortly  went  to 
the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  who  have  been  settled  in  it 
for  nearly  fifty  years. 

During  its  occupancy  by  its  first  mistress  the  old 
homestead  often  held  a  figure  destined  to  fame.  This 
was  the  boy,  Francis  Scott  Key,  whose  great-aunt  Mrs. 
Upton  Scott  was.  He  spent  much  of  his  boyhood  in 
Annapolis  and  lived  a  great  deal  of  that  time  with  Mrs. 
Scott.  A  descendant  of  Francis  Scott  Key  of  Annapo- 
lis, to-day,  is  Mrs.  Habersham,  of  Charles  Street,  whose 
daughter  is  Miss  Ellen  Key  Habersham.  In  her  house 
is  to  be  found  some  of  the  furniture  which  graced  the 
Scott  House  many  years  ago,  and  which  was  inherited 
by  Francis  Scott  Key  upon  the  death  of  his  great-aunt. 


BORDLEY,  OR  RANDALL,  HOUSE 

ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND 
BORDLEY— RANDALL 


O  visitor  to  Annapolis  fails  to  make 
mental  note  of  the  Randall  House 
hidden  away  in  its  little  court; 
and  a  beautiful  picture  it  forms  to 
carry  away  in  the  camera  of  the 
mind  from  the  ancient  city  to  be 
developed  in  some  drowsy  hour 
when  one  goes  wandering  through  the  realm  of  recollec- 
tion. A  description  of  it  has  been  written  by  the  late 
T.  Henry  Randall,  an  architect,  and  may  be  given  in 
his  words : 

Looking  to  the  north  from  the  State  House  and  hidden 
among  locusts,  poplars  and  magnolia  trees,  we  see  the  Randall 
House,  erected  about  1730  by  Thos.  Bordley.  It  stands  in 
the  midst  of  a  charmingly  old-fashioned  garden,  with  lawns 
in  front  and  diverging  walks  behind,  lined  with  flower  beds  and 
high  box  borders  and  possessing,  in  its  great  stretch  of  front, 
some  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  an  Annapolis  home, 
besides  the  peculiarity  of  being  in  the  centre  of  its  own  grounds 
and  not  on  the  street.  That  part  of  the  main  house  beyond 
the  sitting-room  has  been  added  within  the  present  generation 
(to  take  the  place  of  a  frame  addition  that  was  removed),  but 
it  so  thoroughly  carries  out  the  characteristics  of  the  plans  of 
its  day  in  its  arrangement  that  no  one  would  suspect  that  this 
later  portion  was  not  of  the  same  date  as  the  rest. 

The  front  hall,  as  in  the  case  of  two  other  examples  (the 
Ridout  and  the  Brice  houses),  is  not  on  a  centre  with  the  axis 
of  the  bouse,  and  the  staircase  rises  directly  from  the  entrance 

72 


BORDLEY,  OR  RANDALL,  HOUSE 

with  a  most  charming  rail,  wainscot  and  balusters  in  French 
walnut  or  mahogany.  The  library  is  in  the  wing  connecting 
with  the  parlor  and  is  placed  a  few  feet  below  its  level,  forming 
a  most  interesting  and  attractive  room.  It  opens  upon  the 
garden,  on  one  side,  and  upon  the  conservatory,  on  the  other, 
and  its  ceiling  follows  the  lines  of  the  roof  above,  giving  unusual 
height  and  a  charming  effect. 

On  the  front  of  this  house,  and  running  its  full  length,  once 
stood  a  row  of  columns  supporting  the  projecting  eaves  and 
resting  upon  a  long  porch  that  has  long  ago  disappeared  and 
with  it  a  charming  fa9ade,  such  as  one  always  associates  with 
the  houses  much  further  south  than  Maryland. 

Contrary  to  Mr.  Randall's  notes,  however,  the  old 
homestead  was  not  built  by  Thomas  Bordley  but  by 
Stephen  Bordley,  his  son,  as  is  very  clearly  shown  by 
an  examination  of  the  records  of  the  Bordley  family. 
Thomas  Bordley,  the  first  of  his  name  in  Maryland,  and 
of  ancient  English  family,  came  to  Maryland  in  1694 
and  died  in  1726,  four  years  before  the  date  of  erection 
of  the  home.  He  came  to  Annapolis  unknown  and 
without  means,  and  by  his  own  sturdy  qualities  raised 
himself  to  a  position  of  affluence  in  that  busy  little  city. 
He  was  a  busy  man  and  with  little  leisure.  It  was  his 
son,  Stephen,  the  merry  bachelor,  of  whom  tradition  is 
busy,  who  built  the  mansion  now  known  as  the  Randall 
House  and  who  had  the  time  to  devote  to  the  building 
of  the  homestead. 

There  are  many  letters  preserved  of  this  Stephen 
Bordley,  and  some  of  them  have  been  published  in  the 
very  interesting  "  Notes  on  the  Bordley  Family  "  pre- 

73 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

pared  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bordley  Gibson,  of  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  edited  by  her  niece  Elizabeth  Mifflin,  and 
published  some  years  ago.  A  pleasant  picture  is  drawn 
by  Mrs.  Gibson  of  the  builder  of  the  mansion: 

This  worthy  old  bachelor,  for  such  he  remained,  was  a  great 
favourite  amongst  the  ladies  of  the  first  circle  of  Annapolis 
where  his  society  and  conversation  were  much  sought  after — 
they  smiled  at  his  primitive  and  precise  politeness,  but  justly 
admired  his  wit,  good  sense  and  good  humour.  .  .  .  He  resided 
in  the  old  family  house,  on  taking  possession  of  which  he  sent 
to  England  for  complete  sets  of  household  furniture,  plate  and 
so  forth.  Its  noblest  furniture,  however,  was  an  extensive 
law  and  miscellaneous  library,  amply  stocked  with  the  best 
editions  of  well-selected  works,  in  various  languages,  to  whichi 
he  was  constantly  adding — and  reading  as  he  added;  his 
opinions,  showing  a  good  critical  taste  of  the  different  authors 
and  subjects  of  the  day,  are  largely  expressed  in  some  of  his 
familiar  letters;  he  seems  always  to  have  read  to  some  good 
purpose,  and  neither  law  nor  politics  could  conquer  his  favourite 
pursuit  of  general  knowledge.  As  a  lawyer  he  stood  high  and 
though  surrounded  in  that  day  by  able  competitors,  his  practice 
was  very  extensive.  .  ,  .  There  seemed  nothing  wanting  to  his 
happiness  but  a  wife!  Like  many  of  his  brotherhood,  he  was 
an  admirer  of  the  fair  sex  and  fond  of  being  rallied  for  his 
admiration  of  handsome  individuals  among  them,  though  we 
believe  he  was  only  once  in  sober  earnest  on  this  subject.  He 
acquired  some  quaint  old  bachelor  peculiarities.    .    .    . 

Writing  to  England  to  his  Aunts  Mary  and  Eliza- 
beth Bordley,  Stephen  Bordley  gives  us  an  entertaining 
picture  of  his  family  and  the  home  life  in  this  charming 
old  mansion  about  the  year  1737: 

74 


BORDLEY,  OR  RANDALL,  HOUSE 

I  have  two  own  Brothers  and  one  Sister;  the  eldest  is  my 
Brother  Will,  who  has  now  been  of  age  some  time  and  is  very 
capable  of  doing  for  himself  in  that  kind  of  life  which,  in  my 
opinion,  is  by  far  the  most  happy ;  I  mean  that  of  a  Planter,  it 
affording  a  good  income  and  being  destitute  of  the  noise  and 
bustle  and  stir  which  attends  those  who  are  obliged  to  lead  their 
lives  amongst  great  numbers  of  people;  and  where  livelihood, 
of  course,  depends  upon  the  smiles  of  those  who  .  .  .  are  often 
inclined  to  frown;  whilst  the  honest  peaceable  labour  and 
industry  of  the  other  procure  him  a  sweet  and  pleasant  and 
independent  repose,  affording  him  not  only  a  certain  means 
of  living,  but  likewise  of  living  well.  My  Brother  Johnny  is  now 
about  16  and  still  at  school  here,  intending  for  the  same  kind 
of  employment  with  his  Brother  Will.  My  Sister  Bett  is 
between  19  and  20  and  is  one  for  whose  sake  alone  I  could 
choose  to  live,  and  should  have  but  little  inclination  to  continue 
here  after  the  happening  of  anything  to  deprive  me  of  her ; 
or  to  lessen  that  affection  which  I  now  bear  her,  and  which 
I  think  I  ought,  so  long  as  she  continues  to  do  nothing  whereby 
she  may  forfeit  it.  She  is  still  single  and  in  my  opinion,  since 
she  has  a  fortune  independent  of  any  one,  she  will  be  best 
off  while  she  continues  so;  tho'  I  would  not  be  understood  as 
if  I  was  against  her  marrying,  if  she  were  so  inclined ;  but  only 
to  let  you  see  that  I  think  there  are  so  few  men  who  may  be 
trusted  with  the  happiness  of  a  woman  of  education  or  delicacy, 
that  the  hazard  is  not  worth  running;  and  of  this  she  herself 
is  sensible;  indeed  there  are  very  few  to  whom  I  could  trust 
her.  I  am,  likewise,  still  single;  and  at  present  continue  so, 
as  well  to  avoid  the  noise  and  uneasiness  of  a  large  family  and 
the  continual  labour  and  fatigue  of  providing  fortunes  to  be 
left  them  at  my  death,  as  the  lessening  of  my  power  of  doing 
for  my  dear  Bett  anything  that  may  contribute  towards  mak- 
ing her  happy. 

From  Stephen  Bordley,  the  Bordley  or  Randall 

75 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

House  descended  to  his  "  Sister  Bett "  upon  his  death 
in  1764.  Elizabeth  Bordley  died  in  1789  and  at  her 
death  left  the  mansion  to  her  half-brother — ^the  only 
surviving  member  of  her  generation — John  Beale 
Bordley  of  The  Vineyard,  Wye  Island,  Talbot  County, 
Maryland.  Not  long  after  the  latter's  death  in  1804, 
the  house  was  sold  to  John  Randall,  Esq.,  the  first  of 
his  name  in  Annapolis,  and  with  his  family  it  has  been 
associated  ever  since  that  time. 

Concerning  this  founder  of  a  distinguished  line  of 
sons  of  Maryland,  J.  D.  Warfield,  the  historian  of  Anne 
Arundel  and  Howard  counties,  has  to  say: 

He  was  the  youngest  son  of  Thomas  Randall  who  came  from 
England  in  the  early  part  of  the  century,  settled  in  Westmore- 
land County,  Virginia,  and  married  Jane  Davis.  .  .  .  John  put 
himself  under  the  tutelage  of  Mr.  Buckley  of  Fredericksburg, 
an  architect  and  builder  who  designed  and  constructed  many 
of  the  most  celebrated  public  buildings  in  Maryland  and  Virginia. 

He  settled  in  Annapolis  after  the  Revolution, 
married  Deborah  Knapp,  of  that  city,  and  died  in  1826 
survived  by  his  widow  and  thirteen  children,  of  whom 
Alexander  Randall  was  the  inheritor  of  the  homestead. 
Upon  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1881,  the  property  was 
divided  among  his  children,  and  the  house  is  now  part 
of  the  estate  of  the  late  John  Wirt  Randall,  of  Annapo- 
lis, who  died  in  August,  1912,  after  a  long  and  dis- 
tinguished life  of  public  service.  His  widow  is  the 
mistress  of  the  mansion. 


WHITEHALL 

SANDY  POINT.  ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY.  MARYLAND 

SHARPE—RIDOUT— STORY 


O  considerations  of  economy  of 
money  or  space  hampered  the 
building  of  Whitehall,  the  colonial 
home  of  Governor  Horatio  Sharpe, 
on  Sandy  Point,  about  nine  miles 
out  of  Annapolis.  Its  builder  was 
not  bound  by  the  limits  of  a  city 
lot  or  of  a  narrow  purse.  His  eye  was  ever  towards 
comfort,  beauty  and  utility.  So,  to-day,  the  old  home 
in  its  royal  isolation  is  a  beautiful  exponent  of  the 
highest  culture  of  the  days  before  the  Revolution. 

Of  late  years  Whitehall  was  in  rather  a  dilapidated 
condition,  but  since  its  purchase  for  a  summer  home  by 
Mrs.  W.  G.  Story,  of  Washington  City,  it  has  been 
restored  in  the  smallest  detail  to  its  original  condition, 
and  is  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  the  best  class  of 
colonial  homes. 

The  road  to  Whitehall  from  Annapolis  leads  through 
a  beautiful  rolling  country  with  many  streams  and  little 
bays.  It  carries  you  through  scenes  associated  with 
events  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  province  of  Maryland. 
There  is  the  little  hamlet  of  Saint  Margaret's,  where 
one  of  the  earliest  parishes  of  Maryland  was  established. 
The  very  names  on  the  little  tin  letter-boxes  are  historic 
— Duvall,     Ridout,    Dorsey — they    each    have    their 

77 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

significance  to  the  lover  of  things  colonial  in  Maryland. 
At  last  you  come  to  a  sharp  turning.  There  is  a  long, 
straight  lane  at  right  angles  to  the  road  along  which 
you  have  been  driving,  at  the  far  end  of  which,  about  a 
mile  away,  you  can  discern  a  white  object.  This  lane 
leads  to  Whitehall  and  the  white  object  in  view  is  the 
old-time  bar  fence  encircling  this  approach  to  the 
grounds. 

The  original  tract  on  which  Whitehall  stands  con- 
tained one  thousand  acres.  The  house  is  not  now  lord 
of  so  much  ground.  It  dominates  only  the  extreme 
point  of  the  peninsula  on  which  it  stands — about  sixty 
acres.  The  home  lot  is  enclosed  in  a  high  old-time  bar 
fence,  kept  so  white  with  whitewash  that  it  glimmers  in 
the  dark.  On  one  side  of  the  house  is  Meredith  Cove; 
on  the  other,  White  Hall  Creek.  The  house  itself  faces 
the  junction  of  these  two  bodies  of  water  where  they 
form  a  bay,  having  a  most  beautiful  vista,  between  the 
lines  of  the  garden  laid  out  by  Governor  Sharpe  almost 
a  century  and  a  half  ago.  "  Meredith  Cove "  and 
"  White  Hall  Creek," — the  names  do  not  sound  impos- 
ing, but  in  reality  the  cove  and  creek  to  which  they  are 
attached  are  rather  large  bodies  of  water.  They  are 
directly  tributary  to  the  Chesapeake,  just  beyond  their 
juncture,  and  give  an  easy  and  direct  access  to  or  from 
Annapolis. 

The  house  is  built  in  the  familiar  Georgian  model  of 
simple  main  structure  with  wings,  and  its  greatest  charm 

78 


15 


WHITEHALL 


is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  elaboration  of  each  of  its 
separate  parts.  It  is  large  in  dimension,  but  is  so  beauti- 
fully proportioned  and  so  well  situated  on  its  little 
rolling  crest  of  land  that  its  size  does  not  at  once  im- 
press the  visitor.  Perhaps  the  greatest  compliment  that 
could  be  paid  it  is  to  say  that  it  seems  a  natural  part  of 
the  land  on  which  it  stands. 

The  wings  of  the  house  have  been  set  back  so  that 
they  are  in  line  with  the  front  of  the  house.  They  are 
square  and  one  story  in  height.  The  ends  of  the  main 
body  are  of  semi-octagonal  shape,  so  that  there  are  no 
abrupt  lines.  A  series  of  round  bull's-eyes  painted  white 
give  the  back  of  the  house  a  strange,  exotic  appearance, 
and  contrast  very  markedly  with  the  frail,  slender, 
straight  lines  of  the  doorway  and  right-angled  steps 
leading  down  in  the  enclosure  here.  The  front  door 
is  marked  by  four  huge  columns  of  stone  painted  white, 
extending  from  the  ground  to  the  second  floor,  and 
supporting  a  heavy  Grecian  canopy. 

Back  of  the  house  is  the  old  garden  where  Governor 
Sharpe  had  the  plants  and  flowers  which  he  loved.  He 
was  a  most  enthusiastic  gardener,  and  his  letters  to 
friends  in  England  contain  frequent  requests  for  slips 
and  cuttings  of  bushes  and  shrubs  from  the  Mother 
Country.  The  garden  is  as  beautiful  to-day,  owing  to 
careful  cultivation  by  its  present-day  mistress,  as  it  was 
when  the  bachelor  Governor  of  Maryland  held  domain, 
and  it  is  the  first  sight  which  greets  the  visitor  who 

79 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

approaches  the  house  by  land.  It  is  bounded  by  a 
white  bar  fence  of  the  style  used  in  all  parts  of  the 
grounds  and  which  makes  a  semicircle  around  the  garden 
with  the  back  of  the  house  as  the  base  of  the  segment 
of  the  circle.  From  the  garden,  lead  the  Willow  Walk, 
the  Locust  Walk,  and  the  Crepe  Myrtle  Walk,  each  of 
which  carries  one  through  a  shaded  and  beautiful  path 
to  the  water  front. 

In  the  old  days,  it  was  a  frequent  amusement  for 
parties  of  young  people  to  come  from  Annapolis  by 
boat  to  the  home  of  the  bachelor  governor  and  hold  im- 
promptu dances.  The  story  has  been  repeated  that  at 
Whitehall,  Mary  Ridout,  sister  of  Governor  Sharpe's 
secretary,  John  Ridout,  danced  with  George  Washing- 
ton— ^then  a  colonel  in  the  provincial  militia — while 
Benjamin  Franklin  played  the  tune  on  the  musical 
glasses.  The  outhouses,  among  which  may  be  numbered 
the  homes  of  the  slaves,  are  continued  in  a  straight  line 
w^th  the  house,  and  are  set  off  in  square  lots  of  gi-ound 
with  white  fences.  The  view  of  the  old  home  from  the 
water,  with  its  commanding  white  pillars,  its  quaint  and 
leisurely  wings  and  white  outhouses,  is  charming.  The 
bricks  of  the  house  are  set  in  the  familiar  Flemish  bond, 
and  it  is  said  that  they  were  manufactured  in  Governor 
Sharpe's  own  brickyards  established  on  his  property 
for  the  benefit  of  himself  and  his  friends.  There  are 
no  remains  of  this  yard  to  be  seen  now,  but  the  story  has 
a  ring  of  probability.     The  bricks,  themselves,  have  a 

80 


Ifi 


ENTRANCE  TO  PARLOUR,  WHITEHALL 


WHITEHALL 


rather  rough-cast  appearance,  and  are  distinctly  smaller 
than  those  in  other  homes  of  the  same  period,  which, 
reliable  traditions  assert,  were  brought  from  England. 
Taken  in  its  entirety,  the  old  home,  with  its  white  fences 
and  neat  enclosures,  its  old  gardens  and  general  inde- 
finable air  of  serenity,  well-being,  and  good  content,  is 
very  charming. 

There  is  a  pathetic  story  of  the  interior  of  the  house. 
On  entering,  the  visitor  is  at  once  struck  by  the  superb 
and  abundant  wood-carving  to  be  seen  wherever  this 
form  of  decoration  might  be  used.  You  are  to  know 
that  it  was  all  done  by  a  young  redemptioner  sent  to 
the  colonies,  who  had  aroused  Governor  Sharpe's  pity 
on  account  of  his  youth,  and  who  had  been  taken  into 
that  gentleman's  household  service.  He  showed  great 
aptitude  in  wood-carving,  and  was  offered  his  freedom 
by  the  governor  if  he  would  decorate  Whitehall.  This 
he  set  out  to  do,  and  laboured  long  and  patiently  until 
the  whole  house  was  filled  with  these  marvels  of  minute 
scrolls  of  wood  of  the  most  perfect  design  and  good 
taste.  He  never  told  anyone  where  he  learned  his  art, 
or  anything  about  his  past.  When  freedom  was  within 
his  reach,  and  his  task  was  wholly  completed,  he  was 
stricken  by  a  sudden  illness  and  died.  The  New  World 
offered  him  little  but  adversity,  yet  the  influence  of  his 
perfect  work  will  probably  last  longer  than  the  memory 
of  his  noble  patron. 

One  cannot  enter  Whitehall  without  being  impressed 

6  81 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

with  the  thought  of  its  builder.  The  stories  of  his 
liberalities  come  to  mind.  You  recall  how  he  is  said  to 
have  built  a  cotton  mill  on  his  property  and  have  im- 
ported wool  from  flocks  of  sheep  in  old  England  that 
cloth  might  be  woven  for  the  comfort  of  his  negro 
servants.  You  remember  passages  of  sage  philosophy 
in  his  voluminous  correspondence  with  his  master,  Lord 
Baltimore.  The  house  speaks  of  good  cheer.  Here  was 
one  who  had  solved  the  art  of  the  secret  of  living,  indeed  I 
In  the  dining-room  is  his  portrait  painted  in  the  style 
of  Godfrey  Kneller — probably  by  one  of  his  pupils. 
It  shows  a  beak-nosed  man  in  cavalier  costume.  He 
wears  a  laced  waistcoat  which  comes  nearly  to  the  knee, 
and  the  pockets  and  sleeve  flaps  are  large  and  ridiculous. 
Around  his  slender  hands  hang  lace  ruffles. 

The  interior  of  the  house  is  but  one  room  deep  in 
the  central  portion,  though  the  wings  contaiu  rather 
more  space  from  front  to  back.  The  main  hallway, 
which  is  also  a  state  reception  room,  is  carried  on  up 
through  the  second  floor  and  is  a  high,  square  apart- 
ment whose  lofty  ceiling  is  curved  above  the  cornice. 
Here  the  most  elaborate  ornamentation  of  the  whole 
house  is  to  be  found.  In  each  of  the  four  corners  above 
the  cornice  in  the  curved  ceiling  are  set  large  Satjrric 
faces  carved  in  black  mahogany,  an  ideal  detail  for 
a  bachelor's  home.  In  the  middle  of  the  ceiling  is  a 
golden  eagle  which  holds  up  the  slender  chain  support- 
ing the  chandelier. 

82 


f^i^j^jr%> 


INTERIOR  CARVING.  ENTRANCE  TO  WHITEHALL 


WHITEHALL 


To  the  right  of  this  hall,  as  you  enter  from  the  front, 
is  the  dining-room;  to  the  left  is  the  parlour. 

How  Whitehall  was  regarded  by  a  contemporary 
of  Governor  Sharpe  is  shown  in  one  of  the  letters  of 
William  Eddis,  the  voluminous  chronicler  of  pre-r evo- 
lutionary Annapolis  who,  under  date  of  October  1, 1769, 
writes  a  friend  in  England: 

In  the  vicinity  of  Annapolis  are  many  pleasant  villas,  whose 
proprietors  are  eminent  for  their  hospitality.  Colonel  Sharpe, 
the  late  governor,  possesses  a  most  delightful  retirement,  about 
seven  miles  distant ;  his  house  is  on  a  large  scale,  the  design  is 
excellent,  and  the  apartments  well  fitted  up,  and  perfectly  con- 
venient. The  adjacent  grounds  are  so  judiciously  disposed, 
that  utility  and  taste  are  everywhere  happily  united ;  and  when 
the  worthy  owner  has  completed  his  extensive  plan,  Whitehall 
will  be  one  of  the  most  desirable  situations  in  this,  or  in  any  of 
the  neighbouring  provinces. 

Colonel  Sharpe  has  resided  many  years  in  this  country, 
where  he  has  established  a  reputation  which  reflects  the  highest 
honour  on  his  public  capacity,  and  on  his  private  virtues.  This 
gentleman  does  not  seem  to  entertain  any  idea  of  returning  to 
his  native  land,  but  appears  inclined  to  spend  the  residue  of  his 
days,  within  the  limits  of  a  province,  which  he  has  so  long 
governed  with  honour  to  himself,  satisfaction  to  the  people,  and 
fidelity  to  his  sovereign. 

Lord  Baltimore  wrote  to  Sharpe  in  reference  to 
Whitehall: 

Captain  Love  having  hinted  to  me  of  your  desire  of  some 
English  Hares  he  informs  me  you  have  a  villa  and  grounds  to 
keep  them  in.    It  gives  me  pleasure  your  being  in  such  a  situa- 

83 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

tion,  the  recess  of  Happiness.  I  have  ordered  Hares  to  be  got 
at  Woodcote.  The  Steward  has  ketched  four  Brace.  I  shall 
have  them  augmented  to  more  if  I  can  and  send  them  by  Captain 
Love. 

As  to  the  hares,  Sharpe  wrote  some  months 
afterwards : 

I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  Present  of  English 
hares  and  Dogs  you  were  so  kind  as  to  send  me  by  Captain  Love, 
who  I  daresay  took  all  possible  care  of  them.  Unluckily  all  the 
Hares,  except  a  Leash,  died  at  sea,  and  one  of  them,  also,  the  day 
after  they  were  brought  hither.  I  am  much  afraid  the  surviving 
Brace  which  I  have  turned  out  at  my  farm  are  infected  with 
the  same  disorder. 

Governor  Horatio  Sharpe,  of  Maryland,  whose 
sixteen  years  of  office  covered  that  eventful  period  when 
independence  was  brewing,  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  in 
1718,  one  of  a  numerous  and  celebrated  family.  His 
eldest  brother,  John,  who  died  while  he  was  in  Mary- 
land, was  one  of  the  guardians  of  Frederick,  Sixth  Lord 
Baltimore.  Another  brother,  Gregory,  was  a  dis- 
tinguished Oriental  scholar,  Master  of  the  Temple  and 
chaplain  to  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  and  is  spoken 
of  by  Boswell  in  his  Life  of  Johnson  in  the  following 
words : 

He,  Johnson,  went  with  me  one  Sunday  to  hear  my  old 
master  Gregory  Sharpe  preach  at  the  Temple.  In  the  prefatory 
prayer  Sharpe  ranted  about  liberty,  as  a  blessing  most  fer- 
vently to  be  implored  and  its  continuance  prayed  for.  Johnson 
observed  that  our  liberty  was  in  no  sort  of  danger;  he  would 
have  done  much  better  to  pray  against  our  licentiousness. 

84 


WHITEHALL 


It  was  through  Gregory  Sharpe's  influence  that 
Horatio  Sharpe  received  his  appointment  as  proprietary 
governor  of  Maryland.  Prior  to  this  time,  he  had  served 
against  the  French  as  captain  in  Brigadier-General 
Powlett's  regiment  of  marines,  and  as  lieutenant-colonel 
of  foot  in  the  West  Indies.  In  1753,  he  arrived  in 
Annapolis,  as  duly  chronicled  by  that  leisurely  custodian 
of  news,  the  Maryland  Gazette^  of  Annapolis,  and  took 
up  his  duties  in  energetic  fashion. 

Some  historians  have  credited  Governor  Sharpe  with 
first  suggesting  the  famous  Stamp  Act,  which  led  to 
the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother  country. 
In  a  communication  of  1754  to  Lord  Baltimore,  in 
England,  in  commenting  on  the  difliculty  of  raising 
money  from  the  colonial  assemblies  to  carry  on  war 
against  the  French  and  Indians,  he  suggests  that  this 
end  be  brought  about  by  "  imposing  an  equal  poll  Tax, 
or  by  a  Duty  on  the  importation  of  Spirituous  Liquors 
and  Wines,  or  an  excise  on  such  as  may  be  either  im- 
ported or  made  on  the  Continent,  or  by  a  Stamp  Duty 
or  something  similar  on  Deeds  and  Writings.  .  .  . 
It  would,  I  conceive,  be  proper  for  the  Law  to  order  the 
Enrollment  of  all  Deeds  of  Bargain  and  Sale  and  to 
invalidate  all  Deeds  of  Trust,  unless  they  be  also 
properly  stamped  and  enrolled,  as  well  as  Deeds  of 
Sale  in  the  Provincial,  or  county  clerk's  office,  where, 
I  apprehend,  the  Stamp  or  Seal  might  be  lodged."  This 
outlines  concisely  the  first  Stamp  Act  of  1768,  whose 

85 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

repeal  and  subsequent  re-enactment  in  modified  form 
set  the  colonies  ablaze.  In  1768,  Sharpe  was  replaced 
by  Sir  Robert  Eden,  who  had  married  the  proprietary's 
sister.  He  now  took  up  his  residence  permanently  at 
Whitehall,  which  had  hitherto  been  only  his  country 
home,  and  from  then  until  1773  devoted  himself  to 
planting,  gardening,  and  living  the  life  of  a  simple 
country  gentleman.  In  this  year  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, where  he  died  in  1790,  leaving  Whitehall  to  his 
old  associate  and  faithful  friend,  John  Ridout, 
Annapolis,  who  married  Mary  Ogle. 

The  grant  of  land  on  which  Whitehall  was  built  was 
piu*chased  by  Nicholas  Greenberry,  of  Annapolis,  in 
1680,  from  William  Fuller,  of  Virginia,  son  of  Capt. 
William  Fuller,  its  first  surveyor.  At  his  death  in  1697, 
Greenberry  left  it  to  Charles,  his  son,  who  died  in  1713, 
leaving  Whitehall  to  his  wife  during  her  lifetime,  to 
descend  at  her  death  to  Saint  Margaret's  parish  for  the 
support  of  a  minister.  Mrs.  Greenberry,  the  widow, 
married  Col.  Charles  Hammond,  Treasurer  of  the 
Western  Shore.  She  died,  records  the  Maryland 
Gazette,  "  Saturday  night,  February  25,  1769."  Prior 
to  her  death,  however,  and  that  of  her  husband,  who 
survived  her  three  years,  the  tract  of  land  had  been 
purchased  by  Governor  Sharpe,  who  secured  a  special 
act  of  legislature  to  set  aside  the  provisions  of  Mr. 
Greenberry's  will. 

After  the  death  of  its  second  owner,  John  Ridout, 

86 


WHITEHALL 


the  old  mansion  passed  to  his  son,  Horatio,  who  married 
Rachel  Goldsborough,  of  Cambridge,  Maryland,  and 
from  Horatio  to  Horatio's  son,  John. 

John  Ridout,  son  of  Horatio,  had  the  following  chil- 
dren :  Horatio,  Samuel,  Eliza,  Rachel,  and  Ann  Ogle. 

Whitehall  remained  in  the  hands  of  this  branch  of 
the  Ridout  family  until  1895,  when  it  was  purchased  by 
Mrs.  W.  G.  Story,  of  Washington  City,  wife  of  Gen. 
W.  G.  Story,  U.  S.  A. 

In  the  graveyard  at  Whitehall,  lie  generations  of 
the  Ridouts  and  their  connections.  Among  the  names 
to  be  found  there  are  those  of:  John  Ridout,  of  Horatio, 
1793-1868;  Weems  Ridout,  1818-1881;  Mary  Ridout 
Winchester,  1812-1894;  Prudence  O.  Ridout,  1834- 
1909;  Horatio  S.  Ridout,  1822-1851;  Samuel  Ridout, 
1824-1856;  Meliora  Ogle  Ridout,  1858-1907;  Hester 
Ann  Chase  Ridout,  1817-1888. 

The  servants'  burying  ground  is  not  far  from  the 
master's  graveyard  and  is  situated  at  the  base  of  a 
great  linden  tree  which  was  standing,  no  doubt,  before 
the  old  mansion  was  built. 


MONTPELIER 

LAUREL,  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

SNOWDEN— JENKINS— TAYLOR— BLAKEMAN— 
PENDLETON— VON  SCHRADER 


HE  traveller,  one  hundred  years 
ago,  on  the  old  Annapolis- Wash- 
ington post-road,  would  have  seen 
a  very  beautiful  homestead  near 
present-day  Laurel,  Prince 
George's  County,  Maryland. 
This  was  Montpelier,  home  of 
Nicholas  Snowden,  just  over  the  county  line  from 
Anne  Arundel  County  to  Prince  George's  County  and 
about  halfway  between  the  terminal  cities  of  this  much- 
traversed  means  of  communication.  Certainly  he 
might  have  alighted  and  broken  his  journey,  for 
the  mansion — then  an  "  old "  house,  as  houses  are 
familiarly  reckoned — was  one  of  the  very  hospitable 
homes  of  the  state,  with  a  long  tradition  of  good 
living  and  comfort,  and  had  sheltered  many  men, 
famous  and  humble  alike.  George  Washington  had 
spent  nights  there,  even  before  the  Annapolis-Wash- 
ington-post road  was  built,  before  the  guest  was 
our  great,  austere  "  Father  of  His  Country."  And 
to-day,  the  old  homestead  still  throws  out  protecting 
arms — though  not  over  descendants  of  those  who  called 
it  into  being — as  hospitable  and  as  fine  as  when  it  was 

88 


MONTPELIER 


built.  Beautifully  preserved  against  the  attacks  of 
time,  and  finely  maintained  by  its  present  owners,  it  is 
a  splendid  memorial  of  the  days  of  the  proprietary  in 
Maryland. 

The  old  post-road  still  stretches  over  hill  and 
through  the  reedy  marshes  of  the  Patuxent  Valley  in 
which  Montpelier  is  situated  but,  except  for  occasional 
stretches,  it  is  not  kept  up  and  is  but  rarely  travelled. 
About  three  or  four  miles  farther  along  its  course,  you 
come  to  the  site  of  Birmingham,  another  (and  the 
original)  Snowden  stronghold  in  this  part  of  Maryland 
which,  after  standing  two  hundred  years,  was  burned 
(by  a  vandal's  act,  it  is  thought)  in  1891. 

Montpelier  is  situated  on  a  hill-top  and  originally 
overlooked  thousands  of  acres  of  its  owner's  land. 
Though  the  present  estate  does  not  go  into  great  figures 
it  is  yet  comfortably  large.  The  house  is  of  the 
familiar  Maryland  Georgian  type  of  central  building 
with  wings ;  but  it  differs  from  others  of  its  kind  in  two 
peculiar  features — the  roof  line  and  the  shape  of  the 
wings.  The  former  is  pointed,  the  lines  of  the  roofs 
of  wings  and  central  building  converging  to  a  single 
upper  focal  point.  While  this  sounds  rather  extrava- 
gant, the  effect  is  very  attractive.  The  wings  them- 
selves are  semi-octagonal  in  shape,  with  the  half  octagon 
to  the  front,  this  and  the  Hammond  House  in  Annapolis 
being  the  only  colonial  mansions  in  Maryland  having 
such  a  distinction. 

89 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

In  front,  and  to  the  south  side  of  the  house,  is  the 
garden,  one  of  the  place's  great  charms  nowadays.  It 
has  been  splendidly  kept  up  and  the  old  Enghsh  box 
has  reached  a  gigantic  height,  forming  long,  shady  lanes 
cool  even  in  the  hottest  summer  day.  The  major  part 
of  it  is  laid  out  in  the  form  of  a  cross  with  circles  on  the 
arms.  The  trunk  of  the  cross  is  a  walk  leading  to  the 
front  door,  where  there  is  a  large  porch  extremely  com- 
fortable, though,  undoubtedly,  the  addition  of  recent 
years.  The  garden  contains  a  very  quaint  summer- 
house  where,  tradition  asserts.  Major  Herbert  courted 
his  bride,  one  of  the  Snowden  daughters,  and  which 
might  very  well  have  been  the  setting  for  many  senti- 
mental interludes. 

The  back  of  the  house  has  a  great  deal  of  charm, 
chiefly  because  of  the  beautiful  doorway  which  graces 
the  central  portion  of  its  expanse.  The  door  now  bears 
a  von  Schrader  coat-of-arms  and  knocker  in  place  of 
the  old  knocker  it  bore  in  early  days,  but  in  all  other 
aspects  the  back  of  the  house  is  much  as  it  must  have 
been  a  hundred  years  ago.  Ivy  frames  the  windows  and 
was  so  thick  when  its  present  owners  acquired  the 
property  that,  literally,  cart-loads  of  it  were  cut  off  and 
carried  away.  At  the  corner  of  the  right  wing  of  the 
house,  is  a  great  bell  on  a  high  post,  used  in  old  days 
to  call  the  field  hands  up  to  the  great  house  when  the 
master  wished  to  speak  to  them.  A  circular  driveway 
completes  the  picture. 

90 


1H 


REAR  VIEW,  MONTPEUER 

c  1740 


MONTPELIER 


Interiorly  is  found  a  very  elaborately  carved  mantel 
in  the  dining-room,  beautiful  panelling  in  the  sitting- 
room,  a  simple  and  elegant  mantel  in  the  parlour, 
many  cupboards  let  into  the  walls  at  odd  places,  includ- 
ing a  fine  china  cupboard,  and  huge  wrought-brass  door 
hinges  and  latches, — the  only  existing  instance  of  the 
use  of  wrought-brass  for  these  purposes  in  colonial 
Maryland.  The  arrangement  of  the  rooms  is  simple — 
a  broad  hall  from  front  to  back  of  the  building,  the 
stairs  set  off  from  the  middle  of  the  hall  and  running 
with  it,  and  the  rooms  symmetrically  disposed  on  either 
side.  Words  fail  to  describe,  however,  the  brightness 
and  cheeriness  of  the  whole  interior  of  the  old  mansion, 
especially  of  the  hall  on  a  summer's  day  with  both  big 
doors  open,  the  wind  sweeping  through  and  a  view  here, 
of  the  quaint  old  garden,  and,  there,  of  the  gravelled 
driveway,  the  ancient  dignified  trees  and  the  blue  dis- 
tance of  hills  beyond.  One  of  the  great  charms  of 
Montpelier  is  its  trees,  as  it  is  blessed  with  an  abundance 
of  magnificent  old  oaks. 

The  foundations  of  the  mansion  were  laid  some- 
where between  1740  and  1770  by  Thomas  Snowden, 
son  of  Richard  (the  "  iron-master,"  as  he  styles  himself 
in  his  will),  son  of  Richard,  son  of  Richard  the  Immi- 
grant. We  cannot  be  sure  of  a  more  definite  date  be- 
cause the  first  formal  division  of  the  Snowden  lands  in 
Prince  George's  County  was  not  made  until  1790, 
when  a  deed  of  partition  inter  partibus  was  recorded, 

91 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

and  so  there  are  no  records.  This  seems  a  curious 
circumstance  from  several  standpoints;  for  one  thing, 
it  points  to  the  fact  that  the  family,  which  had  been 
seated  in  this  country  for  over  a  hundred  years,  lived 
in  entire  amity  up  to  this  time  without  recourse  to 
law  or  courts  for  disposition  of  its  affairs.  Perhaps  the 
fact  that,  up  to  a  late  date,  the  Snowdens  were  Quakers 
may  explain  the  quiet  conduct  of  their  affairs  over  their 
own  hearth-stones. 

Montpelier  was  built  by  the  aforesaid  Thomas, 
born  1722,  died  1770,  and  was  greatly  added  to  by  his 
son.  Major  Thomas,  of  the  Maryland  line.  The  elder 
Thomas,  tradition  tells  us,  was  sober,  simple  in  tastes 
and  something  of  a  recluse,  while  the  son  was  more 
fond  of  the  bright  things  of  the  world.  Thomas,  the 
elder,  built  the  substantial  central  portion  of  Mont- 
pelier. Thomas,  the  younger,  added  the  beautiful  wings 
and  the  interior  decoration  of  the  whole. 

This  Thomas  Snowden,  the  younger — better  known 
as  "  Major "  Thomas,  from  his  services  during  the 
Revolution — was  born  in  1751,  at  Montpelier,  and  died 
in  1803.  He  married  Ann  Ridgely,  a  great  heiress, 
and  after  his  wedding  was  so  plentifully  supplied  with 
this  world's  goods  that  the  members  of  the  Quaker 
congregation  of  which  he  was  a  part,  forbade  him  to 
come  to  meeting.  To  placate  them,  he  liberated  one 
hundred  negro  slaves  and  was  then  allowed  to  worship 
with  his  brethren.     Says  Lawrence  Buckler  Thomas, 

92 


MONTPELIER 


the  faithful  chronicler  of  the  Thomas  family  and  its 
connections,  of  Major  Thomas  Snowden: 

He  lived  at  Montpelier  which  was  on  the  great  Northern 
and  Southern  Post-road,  and  entertained  great  numbers  of 
people  who  were  then  continually  passing  upon  it,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  hospitable  customs  of  the  day,  would  not  hesitate 
to  stop  at  his  residence  for  the  night.  Washington,  himself, 
once  spent  the  night  there,  and  the  bed  in  which  he  slept  is  still 
preserved. 

Ann  Ridgely  Snowden,  the  devoted  wife  of  Major 
Thomas  Snowden,  died  thirty-one  years  after  her 
husband,  on  Good  Friday  of  1834,  having  had  issue: 
Richard,  who  married  Eliza  Warfield;  Thomas,  a 
bachelor;  Mary,  who  married  Col.  John  Carlyle  Her- 
bert, of  Walnut  Grange,  Virginia,  and  whose  great- 
granddaughter,  Mrs.  Carlyle  Herbert  HoofF,  lives  at 
Oaklands;  Nicholas,  who  married  Elizabeth  Warfield 
Thomas,  and  inherited  Montpelier;  and  Caroline,  who 
died  unmarried. 

Nicholas,  the  next  owner  of  the  old  home,  was  born 
at  Montpelier,  October  21,  1786,  and  died  March  8, 
1831.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Warfield  Thomas — to  whom 
he  was  married  October  7,  1806 — died  at  Avondale, 
Maryland,  June  16,  1866.  He  left  the  following  chil- 
dren: Ann  Elizabeth,  who  married,  first,  Francis  M. 
Hall,  second,  Charles  Hill;  Louisa,  who  married  Col. 
Horace  Capron,  and  made  her  home  in  Chicago; 
Julianna  Maria,  who  married  Dr.  Theodore  Jenkins, 

93 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

of  Baltimore,  and  inherited  the  homestead;  Adeline, 
who  married  Walter  W.  W.  Bowie;  Edward,  who 
married  Mary  Thomas  Warfield;  Dr.  De  Wilton,  who 
married  Emma  C.  Capron ;  Henry,  who  married  Mary 
Cournan;  Elizabeth,  who  entered  a  convent  in  George- 
town, D.  C. ;  and  Emily  Roseville,  who  married  Charles 
C.  Hill.  Descendant  sons  and  daughters  of  these 
unions  have  taken  prominent  places  in  many  states. 

Ann  Elizabeth  Snowden's  second  husband,  Charles 
Hill,  was  the  father  of  Charles  C.  Hill,  who  married  her 
sister,  Emily  Roseville  Snowden,  and  she  did  not  marry 
the  second  time  until  after  her  second  husband's  son 
had  married  her  sister.  What  relation  were  her  chil- 
dren by  her  second  marriage  to  her  sister's  children? 
Her  husband's  children  were  younger  than  his  grand- 
children, it  is  plain;  and  other  aspects  of  this  interesting 
genealogical  problem  will  be  discovered  upon  reflection. 

Julianna  Snowden,  who  married  Dr.  Theodore 
Jenkins,  was  the  inheritor  of  Montpelier,  and  was  a 
woman  of  fine  intellectual  endowment  and  great 
strength  of  purpose.  She  was  married  at  Montpelier, 
June  23,  1835,  and  after  her  husband's  death  at  the 
homestead,  December  15,  1866,  managed  the  entire 
large  estate.  Her  children  were :  Theodore,  born  April 
19,  1838,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Cedar  Mountains,  Vir- 
ginia, August  9,  1862;  Elizabeth  Snowden,  Louis 
William,  born  June  16,  1842;  Francis  Xavier,  born 
September  29,   1844,   and  lives  in  Baltimore;   Mary 

94 


1^) 


SIMMKR  HOUSE,  MO.NTPEUER 


GARDEN,  MONTPELIER 


MONTPELIER 


Eliza,  born  November  5, 1846,  and  lives  in  Washington, 
D.  C. ;  Ann  Louisa,  and  Arthur. 

Since  the  death  of  Mrs.  Jenkins,  the  beautiful 
property  has  passed  through  many  hands.  It  was  left 
by  her  will  to  her  children  and  was,  later,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  W.  P.  Davis  and  Martin  W.  ChoUar  as  specula- 
tive investors  until,  in  1895,  it  was  purchased  by  Mrs. 
Josephine  D.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  for  a  summer 
home.  In  1900,  Lewis  H.  Blakeman,  of  New  York, 
acquired  the  title,  from  whom  in  1906,  it  went  to  Ed- 
mund H.  Pendleton,  a  writer,  of  New  York,  who  lived 
there  until  his  death  in  1910.  In  1911  it  was  purchased 
from  the  Pendleton  estate  by  Otto  V.  von  Schrader,  of 
St.  Louis,  its  present  owner,  whose  family  consists  of 
his  wife,  a  married  son,  Atreus  Hargadine  von  Schrader, 
and  a  grandson,  Atreus  Hargadine,  Jr. 

In  its  present  hands  the  old  homestead  belongs  to 
those  capable  of  understanding  its  traditions  and  of 
continuing  them. 


OAKLANDS 

(WITH  NOTES  ON  OTHER  SNOWDEN  HOMES) 
CONTEE  STATION,  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

SNOWDEN— CONTEE—BOLLING—HOOFF 


N  the  crest  of  a  hill  overlooking 
Contee,  Prince  George's  County, 
Maryland,  stands  Oaklands,  one 
I  of  the  Snowden  homes,  now  the 
property  of  Mr.  Charles  R. 
Hooff,  a  Virginian  by  birth, 
whose  wife — a  daughter  of  the 
late  Gen.  James  R.  Herbert,  C.  S.  A. — is  a  descendant 
of  the  family  which  called  the  solid  old  homestead  into 
being;  though,  when  Mr.  Hooff  acquired  its  title,  in 
1911,  it  had  passed  from  the  direct  line  of  its  founders. 
The  house  is  a  sturdy  brick  structure  distinguished 
on  the  exterior  by  fine  front  and  back  doorways  and  by 
the  excellence  of  its  brickwork,  whose  customary  mo- 
notony is  varied  by  the  use  of  heavy,  glazed  "  headers," 
the  secret  of  the  making  of  which  is  believed  to  have 
passed  away.  In  the  rear  of  the  house,  which  faces  west, 
is  a  charming,  crumbling  garden  with  broken  terraces, 
whence  may  be  had  a  delightful  view  of  the  tree-clad 
hills  from  which  the  estate  took  its  name.  The  place 
had  gone  through  various  stages  of  ruin  before  Mr. 
Hooff  took  it  in  hand,  even  to  having  its  window  Weights 
and  the  top-soil  of  the  garden  sold.  For  the  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  home  Mr.  Hooff  has  made,  and  is  carrying 

96 


OAKLANDS 


out,  extensive  plans,  all  of  them  based  primarily  on  the 
desire  to  have  it,  when  these  are  finished,  as  near  as 
possible  as  it  was  when  it  was  new. 

The  arrangement  of  the  house  on  the  inside  is 
simple:  a  broad  hallway  from  front  to  back  divides  it 
in  the  middle  and  there  is  a  small  wing  to  the  south  in 
which  there  are  kitchen,  pantry  and  servants'  rooms. 
An  exceedingly  sunny  and  beautiful  staircase  leads 
from  the  hall  at  the  rear,  extending  half  the  width  of  the 
house.  Its  entrance  and  its  point  of  departure  from 
the  hall  are  marked  by  two  graceful,  classic  arches 
placed  on  the  transverse  and  longitudinal  lines  of  the 
house,  respectively.  The  stair  is  broken  by  a  landing 
on  which  stands  a  Fairfax  clock,  a  relic  of  the  famous 
Lord  Fairfax,  of  Virginia,  Washington's  patron,  and 
one  of  Mrs.  HooiF's  maternal  forebears.  The  rooms 
are  notable  for  their  high  ceilings  and  good  proportion, 
the  parlour,  in  especial,  being  very  charming  with  high- 
wainscoted  walls,  and  simple  cornice.  In  the  dining- 
room,  is  a  corner  cupboard,  which  takes  every  feminine 
heart,  and  in  the  sitting-room  adjoining  are  the  remains 
of  a  secret  staircase  which  led  from  this  room  to  the 
master's  bedroom  above. 

In  the  old  days,  this  sitting-room  was  used  as  a  card- 
room  and  the  following  story  is  told  of  it :  It  seems  that 
at  one  period  the  Lord  of  Misrule  held  sway  in  this 
house — as  he  has  in  almost  every  old  home  in  Maryland 
— and  during  his  reign,  one  evening,   a  furious  and 

7  97 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

boisterous  game  of  cards  was  in  progress  in  this  room. 
High  stakes  were  on,  the  players  were  all  heated  and 
red  with  wine  when  suddenly  one  of  them  was  summoned 
away  by  a  message  that  could  not  be  put  aside.  His 
going  would  mean  the  breaking  up  of  the  game. 

"  We  would  play  with  the  Devil  if  he  took  your 
place,"  declared  the  host  and  his  guests  with  loud  oaths. 

They  were  seated  in  confusion  when  there  came  a 
knock  at  the  door.  Entered  a  tall,  slim  man  whom  no 
one  there  recognized. 

"  May  I  take  the  vacant  place?  "  he  asked. 

"  Sit  down,"  replied  the  host,  "  though  we  don't 
know  your  name." 

Again  play  waxed  furious.  The  stranger  played  in 
an  incredible  streak  of  luck.  Morning  came  and  went 
and  afternoon  and  evening  and  still  the  game  went  on, 
each  player  seeming  to  be  bound  to  his  seat  by  some 
irresistible  force.  At  last  the  unknown  had  won  every 
dollar  of  each  man  sitting  at  the  table  and  the  hypothe- 
cation of  every  valuable  they  possessed.  He  arose  to  go 
but  turned  at  the  door  to  bow  farewell.  Sharpened  by 
distress,  the  weary  eyes  of  the  men  at  the  table  noted 
plainly  the  outline  of  a  forked  tail  beneath  the  back  of 
his  coat  as  he  bent  over,  and,  on  his  departure,  a  smeU 
of  brimstone  clung  about  the  room  for  a  long  time. 

In  each  of  the  rooms  of  the  house,  is  a  broad  fire- 
place set  across  the  corner  of  the  room  farthest  from  the 
door.    This  gives  an  exceedingly  homelike  atmosphere 

98 


2*) 


OAKLANDS 


to  the  house  in  winter,  and,  indeed,  one  of  its  great  dis- 
tinctions at  all  seasons  is  its  general  air  of  sunny  good 
cheer.  The  windows  are  full  five  panes  across  and  high 
in  proportion. 

Oaklands  was  inherited  by  Richard  Snowden  from 
his  father.  Major  Thomas  Snowden,  of  Montpelier, 
which  is  situated  nearby,  and  to  it  he  took  his  bride, 
Eliza  Warfield,  of  Bushby  Park,  Howard  County, 
when  he  was  married,  February  13,  1798.  After  the 
death  of  his  first  wife,  he  married  her  sister,  Louisa 
Victoria  Warfield,  of  Bushby  Park — no  mean  tribute 
from  a  man  to  his  wife's  family. 

The  estate  extended  from  the  boundaries  of  Mont- 
pelier, on  the  south,  well  up  into  the  present  Howard 
County,  Maryland,  and  embraced  more  than  two 
thousand  acres.  Its  master  had  no  children  by  his 
second  marriage.  The  issue  of  the  first  has  begotten  a 
large  and  active  connection.  Ann  Louisa,  the  eldest 
child,  who  inherited  the  homestead,  married  Capt.  John 
Contee;  Col.  Thomas  Snowden,  the  eldest  son,  married 
Ann  Rebecca  Nicholls  and  had  Sara  Rebecca  NichoUs, 
who  married  Capt.  Charles  Marshall  of  Baltimore; 
Caroline  Eliza  married  Albert  Fairfax,  of  Northamp- 
ton, Prince  George's  County,  Maryland,  father  of  the 
late  John  Contee  Fairfax,  first  of  the  name  after  the 
Revolution  to  assume  the  title  of  Lord  Fairfax — 
the  only  certified  English  title  in  the  United  States — and 
grandfather  of  Albert,  present  Lord  Fairfax;  Emily 

99 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 


Roseville  married  Col.  Timothy  P.  Andrews,  U.  S.  A., 
of  Baltimore;  and  Richard  NichoUs  married  Elizabeth 
Ridgely  Warfield. 

The  children  of  Ann  Louisa  Contee,  inheritor  of  the 
homestead,  included  eight  daughters  and  two  sons: 
Charles  Snowden  Contee,  who  married  Betty  Boiling; 
and  Richard,  who  married  Anna  Boiling,  Betty's  sister. 
These  sons  were  the  last  of  the  family  in  a  direct  line 
from  the  builder  to  occupy  the  home.  In  1878  the  place 
was  bought  by  trustees  of  the  Boiling  estate  and  at  the 
death  of  Richard  Contee's  wife,  six  years  ago,  it  was 
sold  to  John  Dominick  Boiling,  nephew  of  the  Boiling 
sisters.    In  1912,  it  was  purchased  by  Mr.  HoofF. 

Concerning  the  origin  of  the  Snowden  family  in 
Maryland,  we  may  read  to  advantage  Lawrence  Buckler 
Thomas'  notes  on  the  Thomas  family: 

Richard  Snowden,  of  Wales,  who  is  said  to  have  held  a 
Major's  commission  under  Oliver  Cromwell,  came  to  Maryland 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  His  son,  Richard,  is  mentioned  as  a 
well-known  owner  of  land  in  Maryland,  near  South  River,  in 
a  deed  dated  October  13,  1679.  August  1,  1686,  a  tract  of 
land  called  "  Robin  Hood's  Forest,"  and  containing  10,500  acres, 
was  granted  to  him.  He  was  living  October  13,  1688,  when 
William  Parker  deeds  to  him  certain  land  for  a  consideration 
of  306  pounds.  In  1704,  he  was  still  living  but  died  soon  after 
that  date. 

Richard  Snowden,  son  of  this  Richard,  married 
Mary  Waters — of  the  family  of  which  Dr.  Franklin 
Waters  and  his  sisters,  of  West  River,  Maryland,  are 

y.OO 


OAKLANDS 


descendants — and  became  a  large  land-holder  and  iron- 
founder,  adding  more  than  ten  thousand  acres  to  the 
large  tract  of  land  already  his  by  virtue  of  inheritance 
from  his  father.  In  partnership  with  Edmund  Jen- 
nings, of  Annapolis,  John  Galloway  and  Jacob  Cow- 
man, of  Anne  Arundel  County,  and  John  Pritchard,  of 
London,  he  built  in  Prince  George's  County,  on  the 
Patuxent,  the  first  ironworks  ever  operated  in  Mary- 
land. Not  far  from  his  forges  on  the  Patuxent  and 
near  the  present-day  city  of  Laurel,  Maryland,  he 
erected  his  manor-house  Birmingham,  which  stood  in 
fine  preservation  until  1890,  a  superb  example  of  early 
building,  when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire. 

Richard  Snowden,  the  third,  son  of  Richard,  the 
second,  married  first,  in  1709,  Eliza,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam and  Eliza  Coale,  and  four  years  after  her  death, 
in  1713,  married,  second,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Samuel 
and  Mary  Hutchins  Thomas.  He  lived  at  Birmingham 
and,  following  the  lines  his  father  had  laid  down,  be- 
came one  of  the  most  influential  and  affluent  men  of  his 
generation.  At  his  death,  1763,  he  was  sole  owner  of  the 
ironworks  his  father  established  and  was  building  a 
new  forge  not  far  from  the  old  one  on  the  Patuxent. 

Mr.  Julius  Snowden,  a  direct  descendant  of  this 
Richard,  who  lives  in  a  home  he  has  built  on  the  site  of 
old  Birmingham,  found  a  chimney-back  near  the  river 
on  the  site  of  one  of  these  foundries  which  is  a  very 
curious  object.    It  bears  the  date  1738  in  old-fashioned 

101 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

numerals  and,  in  script  equally  quaint,  on  a  line  below, 
the  word  "  Potuxon."  Beneath  this  line  is  a  third 
bearing  a  capital  "  O  "  intertwined  with  a  heart,  though 
just  what  this  means  no  one  has  been  able  to  assert; 
possibly  a  trade-mark  used  by  the  builder  of  the 
foundries. 

The  children  of  Richard  Snowden,  the  third,  by  his 
first  wife  were:  Deborah,  who  married  James  Brooke, 
of  Sandy  Spring,  Maryland — ancestor  of  Dr.  James 
Brooke,  of  Sandy  Spring;  Eliza,  who  married  John 
Thomas ;  and  Mary,  who  married  Samuel  Thomas.  By 
his  second  wife,  his  children  were :  Richard  Thomas,  who 
married  Mary  Wright  and  was  the  father  of  Major 
Thomas  Snowden,  of  Montpelier,  and  grandfather  of 
Richard  Snowden  of  Oaklands;  Ann,  who  married 
Henry  Wright  Crabbe ;  Margaret ;  Samuel,  who  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Philip  and  Ann  Chew  Thomas, 
and  who  built  the  quaint  old  homestead  now  occupied 
by  Mr.  Jeremiah  McCawley  and  wife;  Elizabeth,  who 
married  Joseph  Cowman,  descendants  of  whom  are  in 
Baltimore;  and  John,  who  inherited  Birmingham. 

John  Snowden  was  the  youngest  child  and  seems  to 
have  been  his  parents'  favorite,  for  in  his  father's  will, 
drawn  shortly  before  his  death  in  1763,  it  was  specified 
that  he  should  stay  at  home  so  as  to  keep  his  mother 
company  and  that  if  he  should  marry  and  wish  to  have 
a  home  of  his  own,  he  should  be  given  land  near  the 
manor-house,  which  at  his  mother's  death  he  was  to 

102 


OAKLANDS 


inherit,  and  to  be  allowed  to  erect  a  small  house  at  the 
expense  of  the  estate.  He  did  build  for  himself  before 
his  mother's  death,  though  he  did  not  marry  until  late 
in  life,  and  the  little  frame  building  which  he  caused 
to  be  put  up — built  in  the  substantial  fashion  of  even 
the  smallest  homes  of  that  day — is  still  standing  near  the 
site  of  Birmingham  after  that  stately  pile  has  been 
vanquished  by  the  elements.  He  did  not  marry  until 
forty  years  old,  and  this  fact,  coupled  with  his  being  the 
youngest  of  a  large  family,  makes  his  descendants 
almost  two  generations  nearer  the  founder  of  the  family 
than  descendants  of  any  other  branch.  He  married 
Rachel,  daughter  of  Gerard  and  Mary  Hall  Hopkins, 
and  had  seven  children,  only  two  of  whom  had  issue. 
These  were  Rachel,  who  married  Judge  John  S.  Tyson; 
and  Rezin  Hanmiond  Snowden,  the  youngest  son,  born 
in  1796,  who  inherited  Birmingham,  and  married,  in 
1829,  Margaret,  daughter  of  John  McFadon,  a  rich 
merchant  of  Baltimore,  who  left  an  estate  largely  in- 
vested in  Baltimore  city  property. 

Rezin  Hammond  Snowden,  who  lived  at  Birming- 
ham, died  in  1858,  leaving  seven  children,  of  whom 
Maria  Louise,  born  in  1843,  married  Professor  Alfred 
M.  Mayer,  the  distinguished  scientist  and  has  children 
living  in  Brooklyn,  New  York;  John,  the  eldest  son, 
married  Sarah  E.  Hopkins,  and  had  a  son  John  who 
lives  at  Snowden  Hall,  near  Laurel,  Maryland,  and  a 
daughter,  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Stanley  of  Laurel ;  William, 

103 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

inheritor  of  Birmingham,  married  Adelaide,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Gustavus  Warfield,  of  Howard  County,  Maryland. 

Birmingham  never  went  out  of  the  line  of  the 
family.  Julius,  son  of  William,  and  inheritor  of  the 
estate,  has  built  on  the  site  of  the  old  manor-house  and 
lives  in  this  new  home  with  his  family  which  consists  of 
his  wife  (who  was  Miss  Estell  Bird)  and  her  sister, 
Miss  Anna  C.  Bird. 

To  retrace  a  few  steps  in  Snowden  genealogy, 
Thomas  Snowden,  of  Montpelier,  father  of  Major 
Thomas,  and  son  of  Richard,  the  third  of  the  name,  had 
a  son  Richard  who  built  Fairlands,  the  last  of  the  old 
Snowden  homes  that  we  shall  record,  now  occupied  by 
Dr.  Leonard  Robert  Coates,  originally  of  Coatesville, 
Pennsylvania,  and  of  the  family  which  gave  that  place 
its  name,  who  married  Miss  Boarman,  daughter  of  the 
previous  owner.  He  has  three  children:  Roberta,  who, 
in  1910,  married  W.  W.  Easterday,  of  Washington, 
D.  C;  Robert  Boarman  and  Dorothy  Wetherill,  aged 
sixteen.  The  builder  of  Fairlands  died  shortly  after 
his  marriage  and  was  soon  followed  to  the  grave  by  his 
wife,  who  was  Elizabeth  Rutland.  Their  orphan 
daughter,  Mary,  was  brought  up  at  her  uncle's  home, 
Montpelier,  and  because  of  the  large  estate  in  her  own 
right  was  considered  a  great  catch  in  marriage.  She 
married  John  Chew  Thomas,  of  Leiperville,  Pennsyl- 
vania, brother  of  Evan  William  Thomas,  the  then  owner 
of  Whitby  Hall,  Philadelphia. 


BURLEIGH 

HOWARD  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

HAMMOND 


URLEIGH,  the  old  Hammond 
place  in  Howard  County,  Mary- 
land, is  not  far  from  Doughore- 
gan  Manor,  which  it  surpasses  in 
grace  and  beauty  of  interior 
decoration,  but  to  which  it  is  much 
inferior  in  size  and  venerability  of  aspect.  It  is 
situated  about  five  miles  from  EUicott  City,  the  thriv- 
ing little  county-seat  of  Howard  County,  and  is  ap- 
proached by  the  famous  old  national  highway,  Frederick 
Pike,  once  the  national  highway.  The  estate  of  which 
it  is  the  seat  comprises  one  thousand  acres  of  fine,  fer- 
tile farming  land  in  this  most  productive  of  Mary- 
land's counties,  and  the  entire  property  is  now  the 
home  of  Mrs.  Mary  Hanson  Hammond,  widow  of  the 
late  Col.  Matthias  Hammond,  a  lineal  descendant  of 
the  founder,  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Richard  Craigh 
Hammond. 

The  approach  to  the  house  is  through  a  tree-lined 
avenue  which  ends  in  a  circle  before  the  front  door,  and 
a  white  bar  fence  encircles  the  home  lot.  The  house, 
itself,  consists  of  a  square  central  building  with  one  wing. 
The  entrance  is  distinguished  with  a  porch  and  the 
doorway  is  very  exquisitely  carved.    A  broad  hallway 

105 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

leads  from  front  to  rear  of  the  house,  and  the  staircase 
begins  its  ascent  at  the  back  of  the  hall. 

One  of  the  great  beauties  of  the  house  is  the  garden 
doorway  at  the  end  of  the  main  hall.  It  is  an  arched 
doorway  with  a  fanlight  over  the  central  portion  and 
the  two  long  narrow  windows  which  flank  this  part. 
The  structural  wooden  details  are  beautifully  carved  in 
the  decorative  design  which  is  carried  out  through  the 
house. 

The  beauty  of  the  interior  carving  of  Burleigh 
attracts  many  visitors,  and  it  is  of  unusual  character  in 
the  originality  of  the  design  and  in  the  great  delicacy 
and  precision  of  workmanship  manifested  in  its  execu- 
tion. On  mantels,  doorways  and  every  available  space 
for  decoration  this  lace-work  of  cut  wood  extends. 

The  garden  of  Burleigh  is  not  so  beautiful  now  as  it 
was  during  its  late  master's  lifetime  or  during  the  lives 
of  those  who  lived  in  the  old  home  before  him,  as  the 
widowed  ladies  who  now  form  the  household  are  not  so 
well  able  to  have  these  details  looked  after  but  it  is  still 
a  very  delightful  place,  especially  when  a  westerly  sun 
throws  long  shadows  through  its  walks  and  touches  the 
delicate  carving  of  the  old  garden  doorway  with  mellow, 
warm  splotches  of  golden  light. 

A  feature  of  the  grounds  of  Burleigh  which  lends 
much  to  its  romantic  atmosphere  is  the  old  slaves' 
quarters  a  little  distance  from  the  house.    Great  beetle- 

106 


BURLEIGH 


backed  barns  and  stone  buildings  make  up  the  out- 
buildings of  the  homestead. 

Burleigh  was  built  by  Col.  Rezin  Hammond,  a 
revolutionary  character — one  of  the  Conmiittee  of 
Safety  of  Annapolis  in  pre-revolutionary  days — for  his 
nephew,  Denton  Hammond,  son  of  "  Brother  Philip." 
It  is  said  that  this  Rezin  Hammond  observed  his 
brother's  large  family  and  told  him  not  to  worry  about 
the  future  of  at  least  one  of  his  sons — that  he,  Rezin, 
would  provide  for  him;  and,  being  a  bachelor  and  very 
well  endowed  with  this  world's  goods,  too,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  he  could  afford  to  do  so.  Denton  was  the 
son  who  was  the  recipient  of  his  favors.  The  estate  thus 
created  has  not  been  divided  since  it  became  Denton's 
home. 

The  family  with  which  this  old  place  is  associated 
has  left  its  imprint  in  many  parts  of  Maryland  and 
springs  from  Maj.-iGen.  John  Hammond,  a  Royalist 
commander,  who  died  in  Annapolis  in  1707.  He  was  a 
great-nephew  of  Henry  Hammond,  D.D.,  chaplain  to 
Charles  I,  of  England,  and  great-grandson  of  John 
Hammond,  M.D.,  physician  to  James  I.  At  his  death 
he  left  a  sum  of  money  to  St.  Ann's  Church,  Annapolis, 
and  this  sum  was  used  to  purchase  a  big,  brass-bound 
Bible  which  is  one  of  the  cherished  relics  of  that  church 
to-day.  His  tombstone  lies  in  St.  Ann's  churchyard, 
though  his  body  was  laid  to  rest  on  his  estate  north  of 
Annapolis  beside  the  waters  of  the  Severn.    Mr.  John 

107 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Wesley  Brown,  of  Howard  County  and  Baltimore,  a 
son  of  Mrs.  Matilda  Ridgely  Hammond  Brown, 
has  in  his  possession  a  tankard  which  belonged  to 
Ma j  .-Gen.  John  Hammond,  his  ancestor,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, a  brass-bound  book  of  sermons  by  Reverend  Henry 
Hammond,  chaplain  to  Charles  I,  which  belonged  to 
Maj.-Gen.  John. 

The  children  of  Maj.-Gen.  John  Hammond  were 
four — Thomas,  John,  William,  Charles — forming  an 
extensive  line  of  descent.  Charles  married  his  cousin, 
Hannah  Howard,  and  had  five  sons — Charles,  Philip, 
John,  Rezin,  and  Nathaniel, — and  three  daughters, 
Hammutell,  Ruth  and  Hannah.  He  died  in  1713. 
Philip,  of  Charles,  married  Rachel  Brice  and  died  in 
1760.  Charles,  of  Philip  and  Rachel  Brice,  died  in  1777, 
one  of  the  largest  owners  of  land  in  Maryland,  holding 
large  tracts  in  Anne  Arundel,  Frederick  and  the  present 
Howard  County.  His  son.  Colonel  Rezin,  we  have 
already  become  acquainted  with. 

Philip  Hammond,  father  of  Denton  Hammond, 
beneficiary  of  his  uncle  Col.  Rezin  Hammond,  married 
Elizabeth  Wright,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mary 
Wright,  and  died  in  1822,  leaving  seventeen  children, 
including  this  Denton. 

Denton  Hammond  married  Sarah  Hall  Baldwin, 
daughter  of  Capt.  Henry  Baldwin,  of  Anne  Arundel 
County,  and  Sarah  Hall,  his  wife,  and  had  three  chil- 
dren who  grew  up  at  Burleigh  and  made  its  halls  ring 

108 


BURLEIGH 


with  their  shouts  and  laughter.  Elizabeth,  one  of  these 
children,  married  Richard  Cromwell,  and  settled  near 
Burleigh.  Camilla,  the  other  daughter,  married  Dr. 
Thomas  Herbert,  and  became  the  mother  of  the  late 
Gen.  James  G.  Herbert,  C.  S.  A.,  a  man  distinguished 
in  many  ways  in  his  day,  and  whose  daughter,  Mrs. 
Carlyle  Herbert  HoofF,  is  the  present-day  mistress  of 
Oaklands,  another  old  homestead  of  Maryland.  Col. 
Matthias  Hammond  was  the  third  of  these  children  and 
the  last  male  occupant  of  Burleigh,  of  the  name.  He 
married  Mary  Hanson,  of  Anne  Arundel  County,  and 
had  one  child,  a  daughter,  who  married  her  cousin, 
Richard  Craigh  Hammond,  whom  she  survives. 

There  have  been  many  brilliant  entertainments  at 
Burleigh,  and  its  tradition  of  fine  hospitality  was  well 
maintained  by  its  last  master.  Col.  Matthias  Hammond. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  scholarship,  a  fluent  writer,  and 
a  linguist  of  distinction.  Yet  he  did  not  occupy  himself 
entirely  with  his  books  but  found  distraction  in  the 
society  of  his  fellows,  and  was  host  to  many  a  gay  and 
congenial  gathering  of  neighbors  and  friends. 

In  Burleigh  is  a  great  quantity  of  rare  and  beautiful 
old  furniture  and  china,  as  well  as  the  extensive  library 
with  which  Col.  Matthias  Hammond  busied  himself, 
and  a  visit  to  it  now  in  its  quiet  elder  days  is  a  delightful 
excursion  into  the  atmosphere  of  leisure  and  dignity 
which  seemed  to  be  a  peculiar  possession  of  the  genera- 
tion that  passed  a  hundred  years  ago. 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 

HOWARD  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

(CARROLL  MANSIOM,  ANNAPOLIS;  HOMEWOOD,  BROOKLANDWOOD; 
CARROLL  PARK  HOUSE.  BALTIMORE) 

CARROLL 


OUGHOREGAN     MANOR,     the 

centre  of  the  historic  estate  from 
which  it  takes  its  name,  is  the 
strongest  link  in  the  chain  which 
binds  Maryland  to  its  colonial  past. 
The  home  of  Charles  Carroll,  of 
Carrollton,  the  longest-lived  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration,  and  of  many  figures  notable 
in  the  history  of  the  nation  and  the  state,  it  has  for  two 
centuries  and  more  been  the  seat  of  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished families  in  the  history  of  Maryland. 

The  magnificent  old  mansion  is  situated  five  miles 
northwest  of  Ellicott  City,  Maryland,  on  the  Frederick 
pike,  once  the  national  highway  from  east  to  west,  and 
over  which  many  a  settler  following  the  counsel  epito- 
mized by  Greeley  has  slowly  made  his  way.  The  house 
is  situated  on  the  crest  of  a  high  ridge  of  ground  com- 
manding a  broad  prospect  to  the  east,  at  the  end  of  a 
mile  long  driveway  through  a  beautiful  wood  from  the 
pike  and  is  surrounded  by  five  thousand  acres  of  fertile 
land,  the  present-day  extent  of  the  estate. 

As  the  visitor  to  Doughoregan  approaches  the 
house,  after  a  cool  drive  through  its  magnificent  woods, 

110 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


he  is  at  once  impressed  with  the  size  of  the  old  mansion 
and  the  overpowering  dignity  of  the  whole  scene  of 
which  it  is  a  centre.  The  house  is  a  long,  low  structure 
with  two  wings  and  a  cupola  in  the  middle  and  looks 
more  like  a  section  of  some  ancient  wall  with  watchman's 
tower  than  like  a  dwelling  house.  It  is  three  hundred 
feet  in  length  and  not  more  than  thirty  feet  deep.  The 
right  or  north  wing  is  the  chapel  where  every  Sunday 
the  devout  have  held  services  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years;  the  left  or  south  wing  contains  the  kitchen  and 
servants'  rooms.  The  house  is  divided  through  the 
middle  by  a  broad  hallway  very  heavily  and  plainly 
panelled  in  oak.  To  the  right  of  this,  as  you  enter,  is  a 
parlor  beyond  which  is  a  study,  the  walls  of  which  are 
covered  with  family  portraits,  and  in  which  the  signer 
conducted  the  business  of  his  vast  estate.  Among  the 
paintings  here  is  one  showing  the  signer  as  a  boy  at 
school  in  France,  standing  upon  a  shore  watching  a  dis- 
tant ship  make  out  to  a  distant  sea.  Other  portraits 
show  the  late  Governor  John  Lee  Carroll  and  the 
beautiful  three  Caton  sisters,  granddaughters  of  the 
signer,  who  were  known  as  the  Three  Graces  of  America. 
To  the  left  of  the  hallway,  as  you  enter  from  the  front, 
are  a  reception-  and  a  dining-room.  Adjoining  the  re- 
ception-room is  a  very  charming  little  breakfast-room. 
In  the  dining-room  may  be  seen  the  old  Carroll  silver 
and  a  rich  hoard  of  old  furniture.    One  of  the  features 

of  interest  of  the  interior  of  the  house  is  the  Cardinal's 

111 


COLONIAL  INIANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

room,  a  richly  furnished  apartment  in  which  the  pre- 
dominant colors  in  the  scheme  of  decoration  are  red  and 
gold,  and  which  is  scrupulously  reserved  for  the  use  of 
Cardinal  Gibbons,  or  whatever  other  high  dignitary  of 
the  Roman  church  may  be  entertained  at  Doughore- 
gan.  The  Carrolls  have  been  churchmen  for,  lo,  these 
many  years ! 

Passing  through  the  house  to  the  garden  in  the  rear 
one  finds  one's  self  at  the  first  of  a  very  beautiful  succes- 
sion of  terraces  leading  from  the  mansion  to  the  magnifi- 
cent grove  of  old  trees  that  protects  the  place  to  the 
west.  The  southern  boundary  of  the  garden  is  a  charm- 
ingly irregular  and  moss-grown  stone  wall  that  has  been 
standing  for  a  century.  The  garden  itself,  laid  out 
when  the  house  was  new  and  tended  carefully  from  that 
time  to  this,  is  an  ideally  beautiful  spot. 

The  finely  planned  driveway  which  leads  from  the 
Frederick  pike  at  the  entrance  of  the  estate  to  the  house 
was  planned  by  the  late  Royal  Phelps,  Esquire,  of  New 
York,  whose  daughter  was  the  mistress  of  the  old  place, 
and  while  thus  only  a  comparatively  new  addition  to 
the  estate,  as  its  age  is  to  be  measured,  is  one  of  its 
greatest  attractions.  It  is  over  a  mile  long  and  leads 
by  a  gentle  ascent  from  the  gate  to  the  house  through 
long  curves  well  calculated  to  show  in  vistas  the  wonder- 
ful old  trees  of  the  place. 

Doughoregan  ]Manor  has  always  been  noted  for  its 
hospitality  and  a  delightful  picture  of  one  occasion  of 

112 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


its  generous  outpouring  has  been  drawn  by  J.  D.  War- 
field,  who  wrote  of  the  "  Founders  of  Anne  Arundel 
and  Howard  Counties,"  of  aVIaryland. 

I  have  a  distinct  and  delightful  recollection  of  a  visit  to 
Doughoregan  Manor  in  my  boyhood  with  my  father  who  was 
an  invited  guest  of  Col.  Charles  Carroll.  The  occasion  was  a 
tournament  which,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  of  tilting  extends, 
was  unique.  The  gentry  of  the  neighbouring  counties  with  their 
famihes  were  present,  and  the  display  of  beauty  and  fashion 
was  such  as  made  a  lasting  impression  on  a  youth  of  ten  years. 
The  joust  was  out  of  the  ordinary  way  of  such  entertainments. 
Instead  of  the  conventional  ring  suspended  in  the  air,  through 
which  the  knights  at  full  gallop  were  to  thrust  the  spear,  the 
object  of  their  skill  was  a  lay  figure  of  wood  representing  a  man 
life-size,  caparisoned  as  a  knight,  and  so  nicely  balanced  on  a 
pedestal  that  a  blow  in  the  face  from  a  well-poised  spear  would 
unhorse  the  figure  while  a  stroke  against  the  body  was  calculated 
to  shiver  the  spear  or  unhorse  the  knight. 

Against  this  figure  each  knight,  handsomely  attired  and 
inounted  with  heavy  spears  about  twelve  feet  long  and  one  to 
three  inches  thick  with  a  strong  brass  point,  was  to  dash  himself 
at  full  speed.  One  knight  was  dismounted  and  another  had  his 
spear  shivered  but  no  injury  occurred  to  man  or  horse.  The 
victor  who  overthrew  the  lay  figure  three  times  and  so  won  the 
right  to  crown  the  queen  of  honour  was  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  Cavalry;  but  his  name,  with  that  of  the  queen,  I  have 
forgotten.  After  the  joust  followed  the  crowning  of  the  queen 
and  then  the  "  menu  "  and  the  departure  of  the  many  guests. 

The  Carroll  family  has,  it  may  be  easily  argued, 
been  the  greatest  land-owning  family  in  America. 
When  Charles  Carroll  of  CarroUton,  the  signer,  died  in 

8  113 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

1832,  he  owned  27,691  acres  in  Bradford  County, 
Pennsylvania,  in  addition  to  the  80,000  acres  or  more 
he  possessed  in  his  own  state,  and  his  family,  before 
him,  held  continually  the  ideal  of  the  acquisition  of 
landed  property.  In  1707,  Charles  Carroll,  the  first 
of  the  name  in  Maryland,  grandfather  of  the  signer, 
held  Clynmalyra,  a  tract  of  land  of  5,000  acres;  En- 
field Chase,  a  royal  stretch  in  Prince  George's  County, 
Maryland;  1,969  acres  in  Baltimore  County,  including 
Ely  O'Carroll  and  Litterlouna,  the  old  dwelling-house 
on  which  burned  down  in  1913,  and  other  tracts  in 
Maryland  aggregating  in  all  nearly  60,000  acres.  In 
this  same  year  he  was  granted  the  princely  domain  of 
10,000  acres  known  as  Doughoregan,  and  ten  thousand 
more  acres  were  added  to  this  in  the  later  grant  of  land 
of  Carrollton  Manor.  Charles  Carroll,  it  seems,  was 
given  the  right  to  choose  ten  thousand  acres  in  Frederick 
County  and  first  fixed  on  a  spot  beyond  Frederick 
town  but,  later,  finding  the  land  better  on  the  south 
side  of  Frederick,  changed  to  a  location  in  the  present 
Howard  County.  The  record  of  the  property  was  not 
made  until  1723,  if  we  can  believe  Charles  Browning's 
•'  Chief  Explanation,"  published  in  1821 : 

The  grant  of  this  land  first  appears  to  have  been  made  April 
10,  1723,  to  the  Carroll  family,  some  of  whom  dying  there  were 
different  assignments  from  time  to  time  up  to  1734,  but  I  under- 
stand the  land  was  not  taken  up  till  just  before  the  Revolution 
by  the  present  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  for  his  father,  and 

114 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


the  only  money  that  appears  to  have  been  given  for  the  land 
was  a  rent  of  $20  per  annum  which  the  present  Mr.  Carroll 
got  rid  of  by  the  act  for  the  abolition  of  quit-rent,  1780. 

Portions  of  Carrollton  became  the  inheritances  of 
the  girls  of  the  family  in  later  generations  born  in  the 
old  manor-house  of  Doughoregan. 

Charles  Carroll,  the  first  of  the  CarroUs,  of  Carroll- 
ton,  in  Maryland,  was  a  claimant  to  the  estates  of  the 
O'Carrolls,  princes  of  Ely  in  Kings  and  Tipperary 
Counties,  Ireland,  and  petitioned  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land to  restore  him  to  his  inheritance.  While  he  was 
successful  in  gaining  the  ear  of  the  king,  he  could  not 
gain  his  petition  but  was  offered  instead  60,000  acres 
in  Maryland. 

We  first  hear  of  him  in  Maryland  in  1688,  and  the 
following  year  saw  the  overthrow  of  the  proprietary 
government  in  Maryland.  When  Sir  Lionel  Copley, 
later,  took  possession  of  the  affairs  of  the  province  in  the 
name  of  King  Charles  II,  he  charged  Carroll,  who  had 
been  Lord  Baltimore's  attorney-general,  with  disloy- 
alty and  threw  him  into  prison.  In  1715,  with  the 
restoration  of  the  Protestant  Charles  Calvert,  Carroll 
was  liberated  and  appointed  Judge  and  Register  of 
the  Land  Office,  the  highest  office  in  the  disposition  of 
the  proprietary,  succeeding  his  father-in-law,  Henry 
Darnall. 

Like  most  Catholic  gentlemen  of  his  time,  Charles 
Carroll  was  educated  at  Douai,  France.    He  married, 

115 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

first,  in  America,  Martha  Underwood,  daughter  of 
Anthony  Underwood,  of  St.  Mary's  County,  but  this 
first  marriage  left  him  soon  a  widower,  as  his  wife  died 
in  1690.  In  1693  he  married  Mary  Darnall,  daughter 
of  Henry  Darnall,  of  Portland  Manor,  whose  wife  was 
Elinor  Hatton,  widow  of  Major  Thomas  Brooke,  of 
Brookefield.  Of  their  ten  children,  three  sons  and  two 
daughters  lived  to  maturity.  Henry,  the  eldest  son, 
was  drowned  at  sea  while  returning  from  school  at  St. 
Omer,  France,  which  left  Charles,  born  1702,  the  heir- 
at-law.  Daniel  Carroll,  born  1707,  married  Ann 
Rozier,  of  Notley  Hall,  and  became  the  progenitor  of 
the  Carrolls  of  Duddington,  Prince  George's  County, 
now  a  part  of  Washington  City. 

When  the  second  Lord  Baltimore  died,  Charles 
Carroll,  who  was  in  England,  became  the  attorney  of 
the  widowed  Lady  Baltimore.  In  1718  he  returned  to 
the  colonies,  where  he  died  in  1720.  His  will  made  his 
three  sons,  Henry  (then  living),  Charles  and  Daniel, 
his  executors.  In  1729  Charles  and  Daniel  Carroll  sold 
sixty  acres  of  land  on  which  the  city  of  Baltimore  was 
laid  out. 

Charles  Carroll,  the  Second,  was  known  as  Charles 
Carroll,  of  Annapolis,  to  distinguish  him  from  his 
father.  He  it  was  who  erected  the  Carroll  mansion  in 
Annapolis,  now  the  home  of  the  Redemptorist  Order, 
on  two  lots  of  ground  purchased  from  a  widow,  to  whom 
tradition  asserts  Carroll  paid  many  times  the  lots'  value. 

116 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


The  house  is  a  solid  brick  structure,  four  stories 
high  on  the  water  side,  and  has  a  magnificent  view  of 
Spa  Creek,  which  it  overlooks.  The  garden,  a  famous 
part  of  the  estate,  lies  between  the  house  and  the  water. 
Here,  Washington's  diary  frequently  records,  the 
Father  of  His  Country  took  many  a  meal  beneath  the 
shade  of  a  gigantic  old  tree  in  the  cool  of  the  evening, 
and  this  tree  is  still  standing.  In  1783,  upon  the  occa- 
sion of  Washington's  resigning  in  Annapolis  his  com- 
mission as  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Carroll  gave  a  great  public  dinner 
and  dance  in  his  garden,  which  the  conservative  news- 
papers of  that  day  and  place  spoke  of  with  unwonted 
enthusiasm,  and  of  which  tradition  in  Annapolis  is  still 
noisy. 

The  house  is  severely  plain  inside  but  very  com- 
fortable. It  was  used  by  its  builder  as  a  town  house  and 
as  a  centre  for  his  active  political  and  official  life,  while 
Doughoregan  served  him  for  a  country  home.  In  this 
house  at  Annapolis,  Charles  Carroll,  of  CarroUton,  the 
signer,  was  born  and  here  he  wrote  many  of  the  speeches 
and  public  letters  which  rendered  him  famous  in  pre- 
revolutionary  days. 

In  1870,  Mrs.  John  MacTavish,  granddaughter 
and  favourite  of  the  signer,  for  whom  he  built  the  mag- 
nificent home  known  as  Folly  Quarter,  deeded  the 
property  to  the  Redemptorist  Order,  to  which  it  now 
belongs.    The  church,  St.  Mary's,  annexed  to  the  old 

117 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Carroll  house,  was  built  in  1858  on  land  given  by  the 
Carrolls,  but  prior  to  that  time  the  private  chapel  of  the 
old  home  had  been  used  by  the  Cathohcs  of  Annapohs 
as  a  place  of  worship. 

Charles  Carroll,  the  Second,  had  but  one  son, 
Charles  Carroll,  of  CarroUton,  the  signer,  born  1737, 
whose  mother  was  Elizabeth  Brooke,  daughter  of 
Clement  Brooke  and  Jane  (Sewall)  Brooke,  daughter 
of  Col.  Nicholas  Sewall,  step-son  of  the  second  Lord 
Baltimore.  At  ten  years  of  age  young  Carroll  was  sent 
to  school  to  a  Jesuit  college  at  Bohemia  Manor  in  Cecil 
County,  Maryland,  where  he  was  a  student  with  his 
cousin,  John  Carroll,  afterward  Archbishop  of  Balti- 
more, and  with  Robert  Brent,  who  married  a  sister  of 
John  Carroll.  In  1748,  with  his  cousin  John,  he  was 
sent  to  St.  Omers,  in  French  Flanders,  whence,  in  1757, 
he  went  to  the  College  of  Louis  le  Grand  in  Paris,  where 
he  remained  about  four  years.  In  1764,  Charles  Carroll, 
of  Annapolis,  wrote  to  his  son  in  France  and  gave  him 
an  estimate  of  his  estate,  which  shows  at  the  same  time 
the  vast  inheritance  in  land  which  this  next  owner  of 
Doughoregan  might  expect  and,  also,  how  compara- 
tively little  a  cash  revenue  it  brought  in  at  that  period 
of  the  nation's  history. 

Forty  thousand  acres  of  land,  two  seats  alone  containing  each 
upwards  of  12,000  acres,  would  now  sell  at  20  shillings  sterling 
per  acre.    .    .    .    40,000  pounds,  Sterling. 

One-frfth  of  an  Iron-work,  with  two  forges  built,  a  third 

118 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


erecting,  with  all  convenient  buildings;  150  slaves;  teams  and 
carts,  and  30,000  acres  belonging  to  the  works ;  a  very  growing 
estate,  which  produces  to  my  fifth  annually  at  least  400  pounds 
Sterling,  at  twenty-five  years'  purchase  .  .  . — 10,000  pounds, 
Sterling. 

20  lots  and  houses  in  Annapolis  .  .  .  4,000  poimds,  Sterling. 
285  slaves  on  the  different  plantations,  at  30  pounds  each 
.  .   .  8,550  pounds.  Sterling. 

Cattle,  horses,  stock  of  all  kinds  on  my  plantations,  with 
working  tools  .    .    .  1,000  pounds.  Sterling. 

Silver  household  plate  .   .   .  600  pounds.  Sterling. 

Debts  outstanding  at  interest  in  1762,  when  I  balanced  my 
books  .    .    .  24,230  pounds.  Sterling. 

You  must  not  suppose  my  annual  income  to  equal  the  interest 
of  the  value  of  my  estate.  Many  of  my  lands  are  unimproved, 
but  I  compute  I  have  a  clear  revenue  of  at  least  1,800  pounds. 
Sterling,  per  annum,  and  the  value  of  my  estate  is  continually 
improving. 

I  propose  upon  your  coming  into  Maryland  to  convey  to  you 
my  manor  of  Carrollton,  10,000  acres,  and  the  addition  thereto 
of  2,700  acres,  now  producing  annually  250  pounds.  Sterling, 
not  one-half  of  which  is  let.  Also  my  share  of  the  ironworks, 
producing  at  least  400  pounds. 

On  my  death  I  am  willing  to  add  my  manor  of  Doughoregan, 
10,000  acres,  and  also  1,425  acres  called  Chance  adjacent 
thereto,  on  which  the  bulk  of  my  negroes  are  settled.  As  you  are 
my  only  child,  you  will,  of  course,  have  all  of  the  residue  of 
my  estate  at  my  death.  Your  return  to  me  I  Hope  will  be  in  the 
next  fall. 

In  1765,  young  Carroll  came  home  to  his  promised 
Doughoregan.  He  was  married  three  years  after  his 
return  to  Mary  Darnall,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Rachel 
(Brooke)  Darnall,  of  the  same  family  from  which  his 

119 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

grandfather  had  chosen  a  wife.  "  He  came  home  at 
twenty-seven  years,"  says  J.  D.  Warfield,  the  admirable 
historian  of  the  Carrolls,  "  an  amiable,  upright,  accom- 
plished young  man,  with  the  polish  of  European  society 
and  the  social  requirements  of  studious  culture.  De- 
barred by  his  religion  from  political  honors,  he  came  to 
occupy  in  ease  and  comfort  his  manorial  estates  but  he 
was  not  long  to  rest  in  retirement." 

Throughout  the  course  of  his  long  and  busy  life,  the 
most  celebrated  act  that  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton, 
performed  was  his  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, an  act  that,  with  him,  as  with  others  of  the 
immortal  signers,  had  an  especial  significance  owing  to 
the  vast  personal  wealth  which  he  hazarded  upon  the 
stroke  of  a  pen. 

Robert  C.  Winthrop,  in  his  centennial  oration  at 
Boston,  July  4, 1876,  gives  a  version  of  the  signing: 

"  Will  you  sign  ?  "  said  Hancock  to  Charles  Carroll.  "  Most 
willingly,"  was  the  reply.  "  There  goes  two  millions  with  the 
dash  of  a  pen,"  says  one  of  those  standing  by ;  while  another  re- 
marks, "  Oh,  Carroll,  you  will  get  off,  there  are  so  many  Charles 
Carrolls.'*  And  then  we  may  see  him  stepping  back  to  the  desk 
and  putting  that  addition  of  "  of  Carrollton,"  to  his  name, 
which  will  designate  him  forever,  and  be  a  prouder  title  of 
nobility  than  those  in  the  peerage  of  Great  Britain,  which  were 
afterwards  adorned  by  his  accomplished  and  fascinating 
granddaughters. 

This  legend  of  Carroll's  adding  "  of  Carrollton  "  to 
his  name  has  been  repeated  frequently,  yet  it  is  to  be 

120 


GARDEN  ENTRANCE  TO  DOUGHOREGAN 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


doubted  that  it  has  the  significance  given  to  it  or  that 
it  has  any  real  foundation  in  fact.  That  he  did  sign 
"  Charles  Carroll,  of  CarroUton,"  is  not  to  be  questioned, 
but  that  this  was  his  ordinary  mode  of  signature 
hundreds  of  documents  in  the  record  offices  of  Mary- 
land stand  to  prove,  and  it  is  to  be  doubted  whether  on 
this  one  occasion  he  would  vary  his  usual  form  and  sign 
in  instalments.  In  1889  the  late  J.  H.  B.  Latrobe, 
biographer  of  Carroll,  wrote  to  J.  D.  Warfield,  the 
historian : 

I  have  no  recollection  of  having  heard  the  reason  given  in 
Appleton  for  the  attaching  the  "  of  CarroUton "  to  the 
signature  of  Charles  Carroll  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
No  such  reason  was  given  me  by  Mr.  Carroll  in  my  conversation 
with  him  during  the  preparation  of  his  biography. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  Mr. 
Carroll  spent  more  and  more  of  his  time  at  Doughore- 
gan  and  towards  the  end  of  his  life  lived  there  con- 
tinually, closing  up  his  town  house,  the  Carroll  mansion, 
in  Annapolis.  During  these  years  he  built  the  chapel 
which  forms  the  north  wing  of  the  manor  and  within 
the  chapel  he  was  buried  after  his  death  in  1832. 

The  children  of  Charles  Carroll,  the  signer,  and 
Mary  Darnall,  his  wife,  were  two  daughters  and  a 
son,  Charles,  the  Fourth,  who  never  was  master  of  "  the 
Manor  "  as  Doughoregan  is  familiarly  spoken  of,  as 
he  died  before  his  father.  He  married,  in  1800,  Harriet, 
daughter  of  Chief  Justice  Benjamin  Chew,  of  Pennsyl- 

121 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

vania,  who  lived  in  the  historic  old  colonial  mansion 
known  as  Cliveden,  still  in  possession  of  the  family. 
Justice  Chew's  eldest  daughter,  who  was  admired  by 
the  unfortunate  Major  Andre,  hero  of  perhaps  the 
most  deplorable  incident  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
married  Gen.  John  Eager  Howard,  of  Belvedere,  now 
part  of  Baltimore  city. 

Harriet  Chew  was  a  great  favourite  of  Washington, 
and,  when  the  President  had  his  portrait  painted  by 
Gilbert  Stuart,  often  accompanied  him  to  the  sittings 
as  Washington  said  her  conversation  "  would  give  his 
face  its  most  agreeable  expression."  While  she  was 
never  mistress  of  Doughoregan  her  home  was  an  even 
more  luxurious  place,  though  one  not  nearly  so  large, — 
Homewood,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  present  Balti- 
more city. 

This  beautiful  old  mansion,  built  by  Charles 
Carroll,  the  signer,  for  his  son  after  the  latter's  mar- 
riage to  the  charming  Miss  Chew,  is  situated  on  the 
fair  stretch  of  land  which  was  donated  to  the  trustees  of 
Johns  Hopkins  University  as  the  future  site  of  that 
institution  of  learning.  In  the  plans  drawn  up  by  these 
trustees  for  the  new  home  of  the  university,  Homewood 
has  been  made  the  centre  of  the  group  of  proposed 
buildings,  whose  designs  have  all  been  modelled  on  the 
superb  original  of  its  classic  design.  It  is  to  be  known  as 
the  Administration  Building  and  is  to  front  on  a  circle 
of  driveway  which  leads  up  from  Charles  Street  Boule- 

122 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


vard,  the  newest  and  most  beautiful  of  Baltimore's  resi- 
dence thoroughfares. 

Homewood  was  built  in  1809,  and,  while  erected 
after  the  inauguration  of  the  noisy  nineteenth  century, 
is  constructed  in  the  best  tradition  of  that  type  of 
Georgian  building  which  distinguished  the  middle  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  has  a  central  building 
with  wings,  the  front  portico  of  the  central  portion  being 
distinguished  by  four  pillars.  One  of  the  great  beauties 
of  the  house  is  the  exquisite  proportion  of  all  of  its  parts 
and  the  interior  is  elaborately  ornamented  with  wood- 
carving.  In  the  rear  of  the  house  are  the  remains  of  an 
old  garden.  A  mile  to  the  southeast  of  Homewood, 
during  its  first  mistress's  occupancy,  was  Homestead, 
the  house  in  which  Jerome  Bonaparte  and  his  young 
bride,  Elizabeth  Patterson,  lived  out  their  year  of  this 
first  notorious  American  experiment  in  international 
marriages. 

Mary  Carroll,  eldest  daughter  of  Charles  Carroll, 
the  signer,  and  first  daughter  of  the  house  to  be  married 
from  Doughoregan,  was  wed  in  1787,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years,  to  Richard  Caton,  an  English  cotton 
merchant  and  geologist,  who  settled  in  Baltimore  in 
1785.  Her  marriage  portion  was  the  land  and  home- 
stead on  and  around  which  the  present-day  suburb  of 
Baltimore,  Catonsville,  grew  up.  She  was  the  mother 
of  four  daughters,  three  of  whom,  as  previously  men- 
tioned, were  so  remarkable  for  their  beauty  that  they 

123 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

were  known  as  the  *'  Three  American  Graces."  They 
married  Englishmen  of  high  rank.  Her  portrait  in  the 
study  at  Doughoregan  shows  that  she,  herself,  was  the 
possessor  of  beauty,  and  tradition  asserts  that  she  was 
distinguished  for  her  fine  mental  gifts. 

Catharine  Carroll,  the  second  daughter  of  the  signer, 
married,  in  1801,  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  of  South 
Carolina,  from  which  state  he  had  entered  Congress  as 
a  representative  in  1794,  as  a  member  of  the  Federal 
party.  He  removed  to  Maryland  after  his  marriage 
and,  in  1815,  was  United  States  senator  from  Maryland. 
His  country  home  was  Oakland,  in  Howard  County, 
not  far  from  Doughoregan. 

The  Caton  beauties,  granddaughters  of  the  signer, 
were  the  attraction  at  a  grand  ball  given  at  Hampton, 
by  the  Ridgelys  in  1809,  and  their  social  conquests  were 
innumerable  both  in  this  country  and  abroad.  Mary 
Caton  became  the  wife  of  Robert  Patterson,  brother 
of  Madame  Jerome  Bonaparte.  Louisa  Caton  married 
Col.  Sir  Tilton  Bathurst  Hervey,  who  fought  under 
Wellington  in  Spain  and  was  his  aide  at  Waterloo.  She 
afterwards  became  the  Duchess  of  Leeds.  Elizabeth 
Caton  became  Lady  Stafford. 

After  the  death  of  Robert  Patterson  in  1822,  his 
widow  with  her  sisters  Louisa  and  Elizabeth  was  at  the 
country-seat  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  England, 
where  she  met  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  a  widower  of 
sixty-three.    It  proved  to  be  a  case  of  love  at  first  sight, 

124 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


and  shortly  after  they  were  married  in  Dublin,  where 
the  Marquis  was  living  in  state  as  Lord-Lieutenant  of 
Ireland.  In  1826,  the  former  Mrs.  Patterson  presided 
at  a  ball  in  Dublin,  seated  under  a  canopy  of  gold  and 
scarlet. 

Emily  Caton,  the  fourth  of  the  daughters  of  Mary 
Carroll  Caton,  married  John  MacTavish,  British  consul 
in  Baltimore,  and  spent  her  life  in  this  country.  Mrs. 
MacTavish  lived  first  at  Brooklandwood,  in  the  Green 
Spring  Valley,  Baltimore  County,  Maryland,  now  the 
home  of  Isaac  E.  Emerson,  Esq.,  but,  later,  at  Folly 
Quarter,  the  truly  regal  home  which  her  grandfather 
built  for  her  near  his  home  in  Howard  County,  now  the 
home  of  Van  Lear  Black  and  family,  of  Howard 
County  and  Baltimore. 

When  it  was  sold  out  of  the  family  about  thirty 
years  ago,  after  nearly  fifty  years  of  wear  and  tear, 
Folly  Quarter  brought  the  large  amount  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  This  gives  a  shrewd  idea  of  the 
luxury,  comfort  and  splendour  of  its  exterior  and 
interior  appointment  when  new.  The  house  fronts  east 
and  is  built  of  granite  blocks  which  average  in  size  thirty- 
five  inches  long  and  nineteen  inches  in  thickness.  In  the 
centre  of  the  front  and  the  rear  of  the  house,  which  are 
almost  identical  in  appearance,  are  massive  porches 
with  six  solid  granite  columns  each.  These  columns  are 
six  feet  in  circumference  at  the  base  and  taper  slightly 
as  they  rise.    That  cost  was  little  object  in  building  the 

125 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

house  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  rain  spouts  which 
carry  off  the  water  from  the  metal-sheathed  roof  are  of 
copper.  It  is  said  that  among  the  appointments  of  the 
mansion  when  it  was  new  was  a  marble  bathing  pool, 
located  a  little  distance  from  the  house  and  connected 
with  it  by  a  subterranean  passageway.  It  is  not  known 
where  this  pool  was,  if  it  ever  existed,  as  there  is  no 
trace  of  it  now. 

How  and  why  Folly  Quarter  received  its  name  is 
a  question  not  easy  to  solve.  Says  the  historian 
Warfield : 

In  the  surrounding  country  is  a  tradition  currently  believed 
to  the  effect  that  Charles  Carroll,  son  of  the  Signer,  had  accumu- 
lated a  considerable  sum  of  money  from  his  allowances.  In  look- 
ing about  for  a  good  investment  his  attention  was  called  to  a 
fine  tract  of  land  several  miles  west  of  Doughoregan  Manor. 
He  was  pleased  with  it  and  purchased  it.  When  he  informed  his 
venerable  and  distinguished  father  of  the  fact  the  latter,  accord- 
ing to  the  story,  exclaimed: 

"  That  is  folly ;  we  have  enough  land  now." 
And  so,  tradition  has  it,  the  farm  was  known  ever  afterward 
as  "  Folly  Quarter  "  or  "  The  Folly." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  MacTavish  made  their  home  at 
"  Folly  "  for  many  years,  and  after  their  death  it  passed 
to  their  son  Charles  Carroll  MacTavish,  whose  home 
it  was  with  his  family  until  he  disposed  of  the  estate 
to  Mr.  Charles  M.  Dougherty,  of  Baltimore.  Mr. 
Dougherty  made  the  place  a  summer  home  until  he  re- 
moved to  New  Orleans  about  twenty-five  years  ago. 

126 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


Shortly  after  his  removal  he  sold  it  to  Royal  Phelps, 
Esq.,  of  New  York,  father-in-law  of  the  late  former 
Governor  John  Lee  Carroll,  of  Doughoregan,  great- 
grandson  of  the  signer.  The  next  owner  was  Gov. 
Carroll,  from  whom  it  passed  to  his  son  Charles  Carroll, 
the  present  master  of  Doughoregan,  and  from  him  to  its 
owner.  Van  Lear  Black,  Esq. 

After  the  death  of  Charles  Carroll,  the  signer,  in 
1832,  the  next  master  of  Doughoregan  was  Charles 
Carroll,  born  1801,  at  Homewood,  grandson  of  the 
signer,  and  son  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Homewood,  and 
Harriet  Chew,  his  wife.  The  other  children  of  Charles 
Carroll,  of  Homewood,  and  Harriet  Chew,  were: 
Elizabeth,  who  married  Dr.  Aaron  Tucker;  Mary 
Sophia,  who  married  Hon.  Richard  Bayard;  Benjamin 
Chew  Carroll ;  Harriet  Julian,  who  married  Hon.  John 
Lee,  of  Needwood,  Frederick  County,  Maryland; 
Louisa,  who  married  Isaac  Rand. 

This  Charles,  known  as  "  Colonel  Charles  "  Carroll, 
married,  in  1825,  Mary  Digges  Lee  and  had  issue: 
Charles,  inheritor  of  Doughoregan ;  Mary,  who  married 
Dr.  Eleazer  Acosta;  Louisa,  who  married  George 
Cavendish  Taylor,  nephew  of  Lord  Waterpark,  an  Irish 
peer;  and  John  Lee  Carroll,  born  1830. 

Charles  Carroll,  son  of  Colonel  Charles,  was  the 
sixth  Charles  Carroll  of  the  line  in  this  country.  He 
married  Miss  Caroline  Thompson,  of  Staunton,  Vir- 
ginia, daughter  of  Judge  Lucas  P.  Thompson,  and  of  a 

127 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

distinguished  lineage,  one  of  her  ancestors  having  been 
Colonel  Ball,  grandfather  of  George  Washington. 
Having  no  children,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carroll  decided  to 
live  in  Europe,  where  Mrs.  Carroll  became  famous  for 
her  beauty  and  social  charm.  The  manor  was  purchased 
by  John  Lee  Carroll,  brother  of  Charles. 

John  Lee  Carroll  was  only  three  years  of  age  when 
his  father  inherited  Doughoregan.  He  studied  at 
Mount  Saint  Mary's  School,  Georgetown  College,  and 
Harvard  Law  school.  In  1855  he  removed  to  New 
York,  where  he  met  and  married  Anita  Phelps, 
daughter  of  Royal  Phelps,  of  the  extensive  South 
American  importing  house.  In  1861,  because  of  the 
feeble  health  of  his  father,  he  returned  to  Doughoregan, 
which  was  his  home  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  In  1874 
his  wife  died.  In  1875  he  was  nominated  and  elected 
Governor  of  Maryland.  In  the  succeeding  summer  he 
was  the  representative  of  the  state  at  the  great  centen- 
nial exposition  in  Philadelphia.  Two  years  subsequent 
to  this  he  married  Miss  Mary  Carter  Thompson,  of 
Staunton,  Virginia,  sister  of  his  brother  Charles'  wife. 
He  died  in  1905,  leaving  a  large  descent. 

The  children  of  Governor  John  Lee  Carroll  and  his 
first  wife,  Anita  Phelps,  are:  the  Countess  de  Kergo- 
lay;  the  Baroness  de  La  Grange;  Royal  Phelps  Carroll, 
who  married  INIiss  Langdon,  of  New  York;  Helen 
Carroll,  who  married  Mr.  Herbert  Robbins,  of  New 
York,  and  gave  recently,  in  memory  of  her  mother,  St. 

128 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR 


Anthony's  chapel  to  St.  Matthew's  church,  Washing- 
ton; and  Charles,  the  present  owner  of  the  manor,  who 
married  Miss  Susanna  Bancroft,  granddaughter  of  the 
historian,  George  Bancroft. 

In  his  second  marriage.  Governor  Carroll  had  but 
one  chUd,  Philip  Acosta  Carroll,  born  1879,  an  attorney 
of  New  York  City. 

Of  the  union  of  Charles  Carroll  and  Miss  Bancroft 
there  has  been  one  son,  Charles  Carroll,  the  Eighth,  born 
1891. 

There  are  other  branches  of  the  Carroll  family  in 
Maryland  of  equal  antiquity  with  that  of  the  Doughore- 
gan  branch  and  of  almost  as  great  conspicuousness.  A 
distinguished  Carroll  branch  only  distantly  connected 
with  the  Doughoregan  CarroUs  is  that  of  Dr.  Charles 
Carroll,  who  came  to  this  country  about  1718.  That  he 
was  related  to  Charles  Carroll,  the  First,  grandfather 
of  the  signer,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  both  of  these 
men  used  on  their  seals  the  full  arms  of  the  Ely 
O'Carrolls,  as  Mrs.  Hester  Dorsey  Richardson  has 
pointed  out  in  her  valuable  "  Side  Lights  on  Maryland 
History,"  and  by  the  fact  that  Charles  Carroll,  the 
First,  made  over  to  Dr.  Charles  Carroll  a  portion  of 
his  lands.  Dr.  Charles  Carroll  married  Dorothy  Blake, 
granddaughter  of  Henrietta  Maria  Lloyd,  god- 
daughter of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  of  England.  He 
was  the  father  of  Charles  Carroll,  barrister,  a  notable 
figure  in  pre-revolutionary  annals  in  Maryland   (con- 

9  129 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

tending  for  fame  with  Charles  Carroll,  the  signer)  and 
builder  of  the  CarroU  mansion  in  Carroll  Park,  one  of 
the  parks  of  Baltimore  city. 

The  Carroll  mansion  in  Carroll  Park,  Baltimore,  is 
distinguished  for  the  beauty  of  its  outlook  over  Winans 
Cove,  a  portion  of  the  water-front  of  that  city,  and  for 
the  charming  old  grounds  around  it,  now  kept  up  in 
good  fashion  by  the  city  park  board.  It  is  a  substantial 
building  to  which  the  two  wings  now  gracing  it  on 
either  side  have  been  added  within  the  last  decade.  The 
house  originally  had  one  wing  on  the  west  side,  which 
was  merely  a  brick  addition  without  particular  grace  of 
design.  From  the  cellar  of  the  house  extends  a  sub- 
terranean passageway  leading  no  one  knows  where, 
though  busybodies  assert  that  it  goes  to  the  water-front 
and  was  used  for  smuggling  in  early  days,  a  supposition 
that  hardly  obtains  credence  with  those  who  know  the 
position  and  wealth  of  the  builder  of  the  mansion.  The 
interior  of  the  house  has  no  particular  detail  of  interest 
except  a  staircase  which  leads  off  to  the  left  from  the 
front  door. 

Another  Carroll  family  of  distinction  was  early 
seated  in  Samt  Mary's  County,  and  the  name  has  been 
associated  with  Susquehannah,  a  historic  old  homestead 
of  St.  Mary's  County,  Maryland,  now  destroyed.  From 
Capt.  Henry  Carroll  came  Governor  Thomas  King 
Carroll,  of  Maryland,  of  Kingston  Hall,  Somerset 
County,  Maryland. 


HAMPTON 

BALTIMORE  COUNTY.  MARYLAND 
RIDGELY 


£>  T  is  difficult  to  deal  in  superla- 
tives, but  the  most  cautious  and 
canny  of  mortals  might  feel  no 
hesitancy  in  saying  that  Hamp- 
ton, the  seat  of  the  Ridgelys 
(of  Robert  Ridgely)  of  Mary- 
land, is  the  largest  colonial 
mansion  in  Maryland ;  and  the  historian,  whose  delving 
mind  cares  little  for  the  ordinary  distinctions  of  great 
or  small,  would  find  in  the  traditions  of  the  old  home  a 
store  wherein  he  might  learn,  amongst  other  things, 
how  large  a  part  its  occupants  have  played  in  the 
development  of  their  state.  The  title  "  colonial "  may 
be  denied  to  Hampton  by  the  purist  in  terms,  as  its 
foundations  were  not  laid  until  1783 — the  very  last 
minutes  of  the  colonial  era  in  this  county — but  it  is  so 
purely  Georgian  in  design  and  so  representative  in 
spirit  of  the  colonial  era  that  the  lover  of  things  of  this 
period  will  always  wish  to  have  its  acquaintance. 

Hampton  is  about  thirteen  miles  due  north  of 
Baltimore  and  about  two  miles  north  of  Towson, 
Baltimore  County,  in  which  county  it  is,  likewise,  situ- 
ated, and  is  the  centre  of  a  broad  and  fertile  tract  of 
land  embracing  nearly  five  thousand  acres.  The  house 
is  approached  through  an  avenue  of  trees, — as  are  al- 

131 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

most  all  of  the  colonial  homes  of  Maryland  and  the 
south,  generally.  The  grounds  around  the  building  are 
beautifully  terraced  and  occupy  much  more  space  than 
is  usually  allotted  to  the  parking  around  a  private 
dwelling.  They  contain  fine  old  trees  which  shade  the 
house  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  make  it  difficult  to  see 
it  entire, — except  from  the  rear,  in  which  direction  lie 
the  famous  Hampton  gardens. 

On  the  exterior,  the  first  impression  that  the  mansion 
gives  is  that  of  great  mass,  and  then  one  notices  the  de- 
tails— the  cupola  first,  a  very  distinctive  feature  of  the 
building  and  one  found  in  no  other  homestead  of  the 
type  in  Maryland;  and,  second,  the  urn-shaped  finials 
on  the  parapet  of  the  central  portion.  The  walls  are 
bare  and  the  windows  not  especially  well  disposed, 
while  the  wings  of  the  house  are  small  and  not  in  good 
proportion  to  the  central  building.  The  front  and  rear 
entrances  of  the  mansion  are  great  porticos  with  a  floor 
above  the  first  story  elevation.  Over  the  rear  door 
which  leads  out  into  the  garden  ivy  and  honeysuckle 
have  been  allowed  to  grow  in  a  huge  mass  of  green  with 
long,  tender,  verdant  streamers. 

The  most  impressive  single  feature  of  Hampton 
is  to  be  found  on  the  interior  and  is  the  great  hall  which 
leads  from  front  to  back  of  the  building.  It  is  at  least 
thirty  feet  wide  and  high  in  proportion,  and  the  panelled 
walls  are  hung  closely  with  family  portraits.  From  this 
great  hall  lead  smaller  ways  to  the  wings,  and  the 

132 


^(j 


CENTRAL  PORTION'  Ol'  HAMPTON 

1783 


HAMPTON 


dining-room,  sitting-room,  reception  room,  and  parlour 
open  upon  it.  The  rooms  on  the  first  floor  are  all 
panelled  and  the  woodwork  throughout  the  house  is  of 
sound  and  agreeable  construction. 

Capt.  Charles  Ridgely,  builder  of  Hampton,  was  a 
descendant  of  Robert  Ridgely,  of  Saint  Inigoes,  Saint 
Mary's  County,  Maryland,  whose  name  is  to  be  found  in 
Maryland  records  preceding  the  year  1681.  A  connec- 
tion has  never  been  established  between  this  family,  the 
family  from  which  spring  the  Ridgely s  of  Delaware, 
and  the  family  of  William  Ridgely,  of  Maryland,  a 
contemporary  of  the  Robert  Ridgely  aforementioned, 
yet  superficial  evidence  all  points  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  such  a  connection  and  the  physical  resemblance, 
even,  between  members  of  different  families  is  often 
such  as  to  strike  attention. 

Robert  Ridgely,  of  St.  Mary's  County,  had  a  son, 
Charles  Ridgely,  of  Baltimore  County,  who  married 
Deborah  Dorsey.  Their  grandson,  Capt.  Charles 
Ridgely,  whose  wife  was  likewise  a  Dorsey  (Rebecca 
Dorsey),  was  the  builder  of  Hampton.  Captain 
Ridgely  was  a  gallant  soldier  in  the  Revolution  and 
was  a  gay  blade.  His  wife  was  a  member  of  the  young 
society  of  Methodists  then  barely  established  in  this 
country;  and  it  is  said  that  while  sober  Mrs.  Ridgely 
opened  Hampton  with  a  prayer  meeting  in  the  parlour, 
rollicking  Captain  Ridgely  celebrated  the  same  event 
with  a  card  party  in  the  attic.    This  marriage  was  not 

133 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

fruitful  and  Captain  Ridgely  left  Hampton  to  his 
nephew,  Charles  Ridgely  Carnan,  son  of  John  Carnan 
and  Achsah  Ridgely,  on  condition  that  his  legatee 
change  the  order  of  his  name  so  that  he  would  be  known 
as  Charles  Carnan  Ridgely  instead  of  Charles  Ridgely 
Carnan.  Charles  Carnan  Ridgely,  Governor  of  Mary- 
land from  1815  to  1818,  was  thus  the  second  master  of 
Hampton.  He  married  Priscilla  Dorsey,  of  Belmont, 
daughter  of  Caleb  Dorsey  and  Priscilla  Hill  Dorsey 
and  sister  of  Rebecca  Dorsey  Ridgely,  his  uncle's  wife. 

The  master  of  Hampton  to-day  is  Capt.  John 
Ridgely,  grandson  of  Governor  Charles  Carnan 
Ridgely,  and  son  of  the  late  Capt.  Charles  Ridgely  and 
Margaretta  Sophia  Howard.  His  wife  is  Helen  West 
Stuart,  a  writer,  author  of  "  Old  Brick  Churches  of 
Maryland "  and  other  historical  works.  The  family 
circle  of  Hampton  consists  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Ridgely,  Miss  Helen  S.  Ridgely,  Messrs.  David  Stuart 
and  Julian  White  Ridgely  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Ridgely,  Jr. 

Not  far  from  the  house  is  the  Hampton  burying 
ground  which  contains  the  earthly  part  of  the  successive 
generations  that  have  lived  in  the  old  mansion.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Lloyd  cemetery  at  Wye  House  and 
that  of  the  Tilghmans  at  The  Hermitage,  in  Queen 
Anne's  County,  Maryland,  there  is  no  private  grave- 
yard in  Maryland  so  impressive  in  aspect  or  so  well 
kept  up.  It  has  been  described  by  Mrs.  Helen  West 
Ridgely: 

134 


0  7 


HAMPTON 


In  the  family  vault  at  Hampton,  built  of  marble  and  brick, 
repose  six  and  possibly  seven  generations  of  Ridgelys.  Captain 
Charles  Ridgely,  bom  in  1733,  died  June  28,  1790,  made  pro- 
visions in  his  will  for  the  building  of  this  vault.  Tradition  says 
that  his  remains,  with  those  of  his  father,  Col.  Charles  Ridgely, 
and  other  members  of  his  family,  were  placed  here  when  the  city 
of  Baltimore  ran  its  streets  through  the  Spring  Garden  property, 
owned  by  the  Ridgelys,  and  obliterated  all  traces  of  an  earlier 
burying  ground.  A  complete  record  of  those  buried  at  Hampton 
begins,  however,  with  the  succeeding  generation,  and  as  one 
looks  through  the  iron  grating  of  the  doorway,  one  sees  a  wall 
of  marble  slabs  duly  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  dead.  This 
final  touch,  by  which  a  chamel  house  was  transformed  into  a 
worthy  monument  to  her  race,  was  given  by  the  late  Mrs. 
Charles  Ridgely,  a  granddaughter  of  Governor  Charles  Ridgely, 
with  whom  the  record  begins.    The  inscriptions  are : 

Governor  Charles  Ridgely,  bom  Dec.  6,  1760 ;  died  July  17, 
1829. 

Priscilla,  wife  of  Gov.  Ridgely,  died  April  30,  1814. 

Charles  Ridgely,  Jr.,  eldest  son  of  Gov.  Ridgely  &  Priscilla, 
his  wife,  bom  August  26,  1783 ;  died  July  19,  1819. 

Rebecca  D.  Hanson,  wife  of  Charles  W.  Hanson  and 
daughter  of  Governor  Ridgely,  bom  March  5,  1786;  died 
Sept.  1837. 

Chas.  W.  Hanson,  died  Dec.  8th,  1853,  in  the  70th  year  of 
his  age. 

Sophia  Gough  Howard,  wife  of  James  Howard  &  daughter 
of  Governor  Ridgely,  b.  July  3,  1800 ;  d.  April  18,  1828. 

Priscilla  Hill  White,  wife  of  Stevenson  White  &  daughter  of 
Govemor  Ridgely,  bora  March  17,  1796,  died  April  10,  1820. 

David  Latimer  Ridgely,  3rd  son  of  Gov.  Ridgely,  b.  Nov. 
19th  1798;  died  1846. 

Mary  Louisa,  widow  of  David  L.  Ridgely,  bom  July  4th, 
1808;  d.  Nov.  8,  1863. 

Eight  children  of  D.  L.  &  M.  L.  Ridgely. 

135 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

John  Ridgely  of  H.,  son  of  Gov.  Ridgely,  b.  at  Hampton 
Jan.  9th,  1790;  died  at  H.  July  17,  1867. 

Eliza  E.,  wife  of  John  Ridgely  of  H.,  b.  Feb.  10,  1803 ;  d. 
Dec.  20,  1867.    3  infant  children  of  John  and  Ehza  E.  Ridgely. 

Mr.  &  Mrs.  Nicholas  G.  Ridgely,  the  parents  of  Mrs.  John 
Ridgely,  and  John  Clemm,  son  of  Daniel  &  Johanna  Ridgely, 
a  young  cousin  who  died  Sept.  26,  1839. 

Charles  Ridgely  of  H.,  son  of  John  &  Eliza  E.  Ridgely, 
bom  March  22,  1838,  died  at  Rome,  Italy,  on  Good  Friday, 
March  29,  1872. 

Margaretta  S.  Ridgely,  widow  of  Charles  Ridgely  of  H.,  b. 
Sept.  24,  1824,  died  March  31st,  1904. 

Rev.  Charles  Ridgely  Howard  and  John  Eager  Howard, 
brothers  of  Mrs.  Margaretta  Ridgely,  her  son  Charles  and  her 
grandsons  John  Stewart  and  Charles,  complete  the  number. 

The  vault  yard,  inclosed  by  a  high  brick  wall  and  entered 
through  an  iron  gateway,  also  shelters  the  dead.  Here  in  one 
comer  is  the  tomb  of  Julianna  Howard,  a  sister  of  the  late 
Mrs.  Ridgely  and  a  granddaughter  of  Governor  Ridgely.  She 
was  bora  August  25,  1821 ;  died  May  22,  1853. 

A  Celtic  cross  marks  the  grave  of  Eliza  Buckler,  daughter 
of  John  and  Eliza  Ridgely,  and  the  body  of  her  first  husband, 
John  Campbell  White,  reposes  beside  her.  She  was  born  October 
28,  1828 ;  died  March  3,  1894. 

John  Campbell  White,  departed  this  life  February  6,  1853, 
in  the  28th  year  of  his  age.  Near  him  is  the  grave  of  an  infant 
son.    An  antique  altar  tomb  is  inscribed: 

To  the  Memory  of  Eliza  Ridgely,  wife  of  N.  G.  Ridgely 
and  daughter  of  M.  and  E.  Eichelberger,  Departed  this  Ufe  the 
10th  of  February,  1803,  a  few  hours  after  the  birth  of  an  only 
Daughter  aged  19  years  and  2  months. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  inclosure  is  a  modern  marble  cross 
to  the  memory  of  Howard  Ridgely,  the  third  son  of  Charles 
and  Margaretta  S.  Ridgely,  bom  January  7,  1855;  died  Sep- 
tember 28,  1900. 

136 


HAMPTON 


There  are  also  several  unmarked  graves  level  with  the 
ground.  Periwinkle  overruns  the  whole  inclosure  and,  with  the 
ancient  ivy  on  the  walls,  enables  the  spot  to  retain  its  beauty 
throughout  the  changing  seasons  of  the  year. 

A  summer  retreat  of  the  Ridgelys  of  Hampton  was 
for  many  years  Spring  Hill,  a  very  quaint  and  beautiful 
little  brick  homestead  in  Howard  County,  Maryland, 
now  the  home  of  Garnett  Y.  Clark,  Esq.,  an  attorney 
of  Baltimore.  The  house  is  beautifully  situated  on  a 
little  hill  and  contains  in  the  interior  some  very  pretty 
mantel  carving.  It  is  not  large,  but  has  the  charm 
which  comes  of  years  sturdily  maintained  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  elements. 


TULIP  HILL 

WEST  RIVER,  ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

GALLOWAY— MAXCEY—MARKOE— HUGHES— MURRAY 

—PARKER 


fULIP  HILL  is  famous  for  its 
front  and  garden  doorways,  its 
exquisite  interior  decoration, 
and  its  whole  grace  and  sym- 
metry. It  is  a  large  house, 
though  so  well  proportioned 
that  its  size  does  not  obtrude  it- 
self upon  one,  and  gains  its  name  from  the  magnificent 
grove  of  tulip  poplar  trees  which  make  up  the  large 
park  through  which  the  visitor  drives  to  reach  the 
mansion.  These  trees  have  been  a  land-mark  to  sailors 
navigating  West  River  for  a  century  and  a  half,  and 
they  tower  far  up  into  the  air  on  the  crest  of  the  high 
ridge  on  which  the  homestead  is  situated,  showing 
plainly  against  the  sky.  Their  dark  mass  of  green  seen 
in  silhouette  from  the  water  has  a  grotesque  resem- 
blance to  the  outline  of  the  roof  of  a  giant's  house. 

The  mansion  consists  of  a  central  building  with 
wings,  and  the  roof  of  the  main  structure  is  pitched 
very  sharply,  giving  an  unusual  emphasis  to  this  por- 
tion. Another  unusual  feature  is  the  decorative  dis- 
position of  the  two  great  chimneys  which  grace  the 
central  building.     Instead  of  being  placed  with  their 

188 


J2S 


TULIP  HILL 


longest  dimension  parallel  to  the  transverse  of  the  house, 
as  most  chimneys  are  placed,  they  are  set  with  their 
longest  dimension  parallel  to  the  longitudinal  line  of 
the  house  and  are  cut  out  in  the  middle  so  as  to  give 
them  a  very  light  and  airy  effect. 

The  main  doorway,  seen  as  one  approaches  through 
the  grove  of  great  tulip  trees,  consists  of  a  large  portico 
with  four  simple  pillars.  In  the  cap  of  the  portico 
is  carved  a  Cupid's  figure  represented  as  throwing 
flowers  on  those  who  enter  the  house.  Set  in  the  wall 
above  is  a  tablet  of  stone  carved  in  a  floral  design  and 
this  carries  the  eye  on  up  to  the  ornamented  bull's-eye 
window  in  the  attic. 

From  the  rear  of  the  house  is  to  be  obtained  a  wide 
view  embracing  West  River  and  the  hills  beyond.  The 
ground  falls  sharply  towards  the  river  and  is  carried 
away  from  the  house  in  three  long  terraces.  The  garden 
is  to  one  side  and  to  the  rear. 

In  the  rear  of  the  house  is  the  Tulip  Hill  garden 
doorway  so  widely  copied.  It  is  a  simple  shell  portico, 
not  intricate  at  all  in  design  but  beautifully  ornamented 
with  floral  carving  and  very  light  and  graceful  in  effect. 

Entering  the  house  through  the  front  doorway  one 
finds  oneself  in  a  broad  hallway  which  runs  to  the  back 
of  the  house,  facing  a  superb  double  arch  extending 
across  the  hall.  From  the  point  of  this  arch  hangs  a 
lamp.    The  stairway  commences  at  the  arch.   The  walls 

139 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

of  the  hallway  are  wainscoted  and  the  stairs  contain  much 
beautiful  carving.  The  newel  post  is  very  large  and 
heavy  with  the  banisters  and  rails  of  mahogany  carried 
around  it  in  a  whirl. 

All  of  the  rooms  on  the  first  floor  are  panelled  in 
hard  old  oak  and  the  fireplaces  and  mantels  contain 
much  beautiful  carving. 

To  get  a  good  idea  of  the  solidity  of  the  construction 
of  Tulip  Hill  one  should  make  a  trip  to  the  cellar,  which 
runs  completely  under  the  house.  The  foundation  walls 
are  as  thick  as  the  battlements  of  a  castle,  and  the 
chimney  pillars  are  at  least  six  feet  square.  The  beams 
average  in  measurement,  fourteen  inches  by  twenty 
inches  by  sixty  feet,  and  show  the  marks  of  the  axes 
which  hewed  them  out.  Here  are  to  be  found  a  wine 
vault  and  a  servant's  oven  for  baking  bread.  The  slaves* 
dungeon  is  to  be  found  in  the  right  wing  of  the  house. 

The  history  of  Tulip  Hill  takes  one  back  to  the 
early  days  of  the  Friends  in  Maryland.  Owing  to  the 
liberality  of  the  proprietary  in  regard  to  religious  be- 
lief, the  province  soon  became  a  haven  for  those  op- 
pressed for  their  conscience's  sake,  among  whom  were 
the  Friends.  They  came  to  the  province  in  great  num- 
bers in  the  seventeenth  century  and  formed  two  great 
colonies:  one  in  Talbot  County  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
Chesapeake  Bay;  the  other  at  West  River  where  Tulip 
Hill  is  situated.    The  remains  of  the  old  Quaker  meet- 

140 


GARDEN  ENTRANCE  TO  TULIP  HILL 


TULIP  HILL 


ing-house  of  West  River  are  to  be  found  not  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  mansion.  Samuel  Galloway,  the 
builder  of  Tulip  Hill,  was  a  Friend,  as  were  all  of  his 
neighbours, — those  great  families  which  sent  out  sons 
to  many  states — the  Chews,  the  Murrays,  the  Mercers, 
the  Chestons,  and  the  Richardsons. 

The  Galloways  in  Maryland  descend  from  two 
brothers,  sons  of  Richard  Galloway,  of  London,  Eng- 
land. Samuel,  the  second  brother,  married,  first,  Sarah, 
by  whom  he  had  four  children,  one  of  whom,  Sarah 
(Galloway),  married  March  9,  1720,  Henry  Hill;  and 
another,  Hannah,  married  a  Ford.  By  his  second  wife, 
Anne  Pardoe,  who  died  April,  1723,  he  had  a  numerous 
posterity. 

Anne  Pardoe  Galloway,  we  are  told,  was  an  accept- 
able minister  in  the  Society  of  Friends. 

John  Galloway,  son  of  Samuel,  married  Mary, 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Mary  Thomas,  and  had  three 
children:  Samuel;  Mary,  who  married  June  13,  1747, 
Benjamin  Chew,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Pennsylvania,  and  who  built  that  beauti- 
ful old  mansion  in  Germantown,  Philadelphia,  known 
as  Cliveden ;  and  Joseph,  who  married  Ann  Cookson. 

Samuel,  son  of  John,  married  Anne  Chew,  sister  of 
that  Benjamin  Chew  whom  his  sister  married,  and  in 
1745,  three  years  after  his  marriage,  built  Tulip  Hill 
to  celebrate,  tradition  says,  the  birth  of  his  first  infant, 

141 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Mary,  who  married  Thomas  Ringgold,  of  Chestertown, 
Maryland. 

Other  children  of  Samuel  Galloway  and  Anne  Chew, 
his  wife,  were:  Anne,  who  married  James  Cheston; 
Benjamin,  who  married  Henrietta,  daughter  of  Benja- 
min and  Sarah  Chew,  of  Cecil  County,  Maryland;  and 
John,  inheritor  of  Tulip  Hill,  who  married  Sarah  Chew, 
sister  of  his  brother's  wife. 

John  Galloway  was  a  witness  to  the  burning  of  the 
brig  Peggy  Stewart^  in  the  harbour  of  Annapolis  in 
1774.  The  vessel  was  loaded  with  tea  and  was  destroyed 
by  the  Sons  of  Liberty  after  the  passage  of  the  second 
Stamp  Act.  Galloway  wrote  a  letter  to  his  father  at 
Tulip  Hill,  in  which  he  described  the  occurrence: 

The  committee  then  ordered  the  tea  from  on  board  the  brig, 
but  some  of  the  mob  called  out  that  it  should  also  share  the 
same  fate.  The  committee  then  with  the  consent  of  Mr.  Dick 
declared  the  vessel  and  tea,  together,  should  be  burnt.  .  .  . 
And  then  Mr.  Stewart  went  on  board  of  his  vessel  and  set  fire 
with  his  own  hands  and  she  was  burning  when  I  left. 

The  sons  of  Samuel  Galloway  were  educated  in 
England.  Samuel,  the  eldest  son,  died  without  issue. 
John,  whose  letter  about  the  Peggy  Stewart  we  have 
read,  had  an  only  daughter,  Mary.  He  died  in  1810 
and  was  buried  in  the  Friends'  graveyard  near  his 
home. 

Mary  Galloway  married  Virgil  Maxcey  and  had  two 
daughters:  Mary,  who  married  Francis  Markoe;  and 

142 


30 


TULIP  HILL 


Sarah,  who  married  Col.  George  W.  Hughes.  At  Mrs. 
Hughes'  death,  Tulip  Hill  was  sold  to  Mr.  Henry  M. 
Murray,  of  Ivy  Neck,  West  River,  who,  not  long  before 
his  recent  death,  disposed  of  it  to  its  present  owner, 
Mr.  Dupont  Parker,  a  Marylander  by  birth  and  now 
a  resident  in  Nevada,  where  he  is  prominently  interested 
in  railroad  development. 

The  present  occupant  uses  the  old  home  as  a  summer 
place.  His  family  consists  of  his  wife  and  two 
daughters. 


CEDAR  PARK 

WEST  RIVER.  ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 
GALLOWAY— SPRIGG— MERCER— MURRAY 

OT  far  from  Tulip  Hill,  the  mag- 
nificent old  Galloway  mansion  at 
West  River,  Anne  Arundel 
County,  Maryland,  is  Cedar 
Park,  another  Galloway  memorial 
and  probably  the  oldest  large 
dwelling-house  in  Maryland.  It  was  built  between 
1690  and  1700  by  Richard  Galloway,  the  first  of  his 
name  in  the  New  World,  and  is  markedly  difi^erent 
in  appearance  from  the  other  colonial  mansions  in 
Maryland. 

Cedar  Park  is  of  the  style  of  an  old  English  farm- 
house of  the  period  of  Queen  Anne.  It  consists  of  a 
simple,  single  building  with  great  chimneys  at  either 
end,  and  a  long,  low,  sloping  roof,  which  is  carried  nearly 
to  the  ground  and  whose  eaves  project  far  from  the 
walls.  An  addition  at  the  back  of  the  house,  wherein  is 
the  present-day  living  room,  is  of  comparatively  modern 
construction,  having  been  erected  in  the  last  century. 
A  simple  little  porch  marks  the  front  door  and,  for  the 
rest,  the  house  with  its  deep-inset  windows  and  great 
roof  nearly  touching  the  ground  has  a  singularly  self- 
contained  and  immobile  expression,  like  a  terrapin  with 
its  head  in  its  shell.     The  outline  of  the  chimneys  is 

144 


CEDAR  PARK 


very  distinctive  and  these  are,  no  doubt,  the  most  char- 
acteristic features  of  the  quaint  homestead. 

The  interior  of  Cedar  Park  is  cheery,  cool  and  airy, 
though  the  sun  struggling  through  the  little  windows  in 
the  immensely  thick  walls  has  difficulty  in  reaching  all 
of  the  corners  of  the  rooms.  The  ceilings  are  surpris- 
ingly high  and  the  walls  are  without  ornament.  The 
whole  interior  of  the  house  is  plain  but  the  solid  mahog- 
any staircase,  which  runs  from  the  back  of  the  hall  lead- 
ing to  the  front  door,  attracts  attention  immediately. 
The  wood  of  the  stair  is  as  black  as  old  Spanish  leather 
now  and  every  part  of  it — steps,  railing,  banisters,  and 
all — is  made  of  the  costly  material  of  which  our  great- 
grandfathers were  so  fond. 

The  grounds  of  Cedar  Park  comprise  about  four 
hundred  acres  of  park  and  farming  land,  though  the 
original  estate  was  larger.  In  the  rear  of  the  house 
is  a  level  green  used  as  a  bowling  green  in  the  old  days. 
To  the  right  of  this  is  a  garden  maintained  very  beauti- 
fully by  the  present-day  occupants  of  the  old  home. 
F^om  the  bowling  green  and  from  the  garden  may  be 
obtained  very  enchanting  outlooks  over  a  leafy  de- 
scent to  the  distance  where  are  the  waters  of  one  of  the 
arms  of  West  River.  Great  trees,  many  decades  old, 
shade  the  house  and  the  grounds  around,  and  in  the 
floral  border  surrounding  the  old  bowling  green  are 
many  rare  shrubs  whose  names  are  not  even  known  to 
the  majority  of  people  of  the  present  day. 

10  145 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Cedar  Park  was  purchased  in  1893  by  Dr.  James 
M.  Murray  and  is  now  the  home  of  his  three  daughters, 
the  Misses  Alice  Maynadier,  Margaret  Cheston,  and 
Elizabeth  Murray.  Before  this  it  had  belonged  to  the 
Mercers,  and  the  Spriggs,  from  whom  we  go  back  to  the 
Galloways,  the  family  of  the  builder. 

Richard  GaUoway,  builder  of  Cedar  Park,  became 
a  tenant  on  the  farm  of  which  it  is  a  part  some  time 
before  1689,  the  year  in  which  his  marriage  was  cele- 
brated to  Elizabeth  Lawrence,  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Lawrence,  of  Marlborough,  Wiltshire,  England;  and 
in  1697  he  purchased  the  property  from  his  wife's  father, 
who  held  the  patent  to  it.  There  seems  to  have  been  no 
children  to  this  marriage,  but  by  a  second  marriage,  he 
had  sons,  Samuel  and  Richard,  from  the  first  of  whom 
came  the  line  of  which  was  the  builder  of  Tulip  Hill. 
He  died  August  8,  1736. 

Richard  Galloway,  the  second,  married  Sophia 
Richardson,  of  West  River,  and  died  in  1740,  leaving 
a  daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  married  Thomas  Sprigg,  of 
Prince  George's  County.  Elizabeth  Galloway  was  a 
Quaker,  as  were  all  of  her  family,  and  this  gay  Sprigg, 
her  suitor,  was  not!  She  refused  consistently  to  marry 
him  until  he  became  a  Friend.  They  had  a  great  quarrel 
and  her  lover  rode  away,  vowing  that  he  would  never 
come  to  see  her  again.  The  next  month  he  was  at  the 
door  of  Cedar  Park,  in  the  straitest  of  Friends'  garb  and 
with  the  properest  of  Friends'  dialect. 

146 


CEDAR  PARK 


"  How  is  thee? "  he  asked  soberly. 

"  Is  thee  a  Friend? "  inquired  the  fair  Elizabeth. 

The  affirmative  answer  was  all  that  was  needed  to 
signalize  the  plighting  of  their  troth  and  they  were 
shortly  married. 

Thomas  Sprigg  and  Elizabeth  Galloway  had  three 
sons,  only  one  of  whom  lived  to  maturity.  This  son, 
Richard  Sprigg,  married  Margaret  Caile,  of  Dorchester 
County,  Maryland,  in  1765,  and  had  a  daughter,  Sophia, 
born  April  23,  1766,  at  Cedar  Park,  married  Col.  John 
F.  Mercer,  in  1785,  and  inherited  the  homestead. 
Another  daughter  married  Dr.  James  Steuart,  of 
Annapolis. 

Mrs.  Sophia  Galloway  and  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Sprigg,  lived  for  many  years  as  widows  at  Cedar  Park. 

The  Galloway  family  of  Maryland  divided  into 
many  branches,  every  one  of  which  terminated  in  female 
descendants,  and  the  name  is  extinct. 


RATCLIFFE  MANOR 

NEAR  EASTON,  TALBOT  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 
HOLLYDAY— GIBSON— HATHAWAY 

=S)ENRY  HOLLYDAY,  the  son  of 
Col.  James  HoUyday,  builder 
of  Readbourne,  built  Ratcliffe 
Manor  for  his  bride,  Anna  Maria 
Robins,  whom  he  married  in 
1749.  It  is  situated  in  Talbot 
County,  on  the  banks  of  the 
beautiful  Tred  Avon  River,  and  is  not  far  from  the 
busy  little  Eastern  Shore  metropolis  of  Easton. 

The  site  of  Ratcliffe  Manor  is  such  that  it  has  a 
charming  outlook.  One  sees  the  windings  of  the  Tred 
Avon  and  the  fine  farms  of  this  rolling,  fertile  country. 
To  approach  the  house  one  drives  through  a  long  avenue 
of  trees  set  in  rows  about  one  hundred  feet  apart,  and 
this  avenue  is  bounded  by  white  bar  fences  of  oldtime 
appearance.  The  home  grounds  are  encircled  by  a 
fence  of  this  same  fashion  and  in  back  of  the  house  the 
land  is  terraced,  falling  away  to  the  river  in  graceful 
green  sweeps.  Here,  too,  are  shrubs  and  flowers,  while 
giant  trees  give  a  grateful  shade  from  summer's  sun. 

In  exterior  view,  Ratcliffe  Manor  has  a  great  atmos- 
phere of  comfort  and  content.  It  is  not  large  but  very 
well  proportioned.  In  design  it  follows  the  Maryland 
convention,  consisting  of  a  central  building  with  a  wing, 

148 


'i/ 


RATCLIFFE  MANOR 


and  the  middle  of  the  central  portion  is  distinguished 
by  a  simple  and  beautiful  portico  and  doorway. 

In  the  interior  of  the  house,  one  is  again  impressed 
with  an  air  of  comfort  and  good  taste.  The  hall  is 
small  and  does  not  continue  to  the  back  of  the  house. 
To  the  right  of  the  door  as  you  enter  is  the  stairs.  In 
the  back  of  the  house  are  two  rooms, — a  dining  and  a 
living  room, — the  latter  of  which  opens  upon  the  ter- 
raced garden,  its  avenue  of  ingress  and  egress  being  a 
doorway  of  exactly  similar  design  to  that  in  front  of  the 
house.  To  the  left  of  the  front  door  as  you  enter,  is 
a  little  office,  or  study,  wherein  the  master  of  the  planta- 
tion in  the  old  days  interviewed  his  overseer  and  attended 
to  the  many  small  details  of  management  of  the  place. 

The  rooms  downstairs  are  panelled  in  hardwood  and 
the  fireplaces  are  very  prettily  carved.  In  the  living 
room  is  a  very  beautiful  old  shell  cupboard  and  an  alcove 
window  of  rare  charm. 

The  wing  of  the  house  contains  the  kitchen,  the 
servants'  rooms,  and  the  pantry. 

Ratclifi'e  Manor,  the  house,  takes  its  name  from 
Ratcliff  e  Manor,  a  survey  made  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Maryland  province  and  part  of  which  was  purchased 
with  other  lands  by  Henry  HoUyday,  the  builder,  when 
he  was  making  a  home  for  himself.  In  his  will  of  1789, 
this  Henry  HoUyday  leaves  to  his  wife  (Anna  Maria 
Robins)  during  her  life  "the  plantation  and  lands 
where  I  now  live  and  all  my  lands  adjoining  or  con- 

149 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

tiguous  thereto  being  part  of  RatclifFe  Manor,  part 
of  Tilghman  Fortune,  Part  of  Discovery  and  .Turkey 
Park." 

In  this  will  is  named  a  daughter,  Henrietta  Maria, 
wife  of  Samuel  Chamberlaine,  Jr.,  and  two  sons,  Thomas 
and  Henry.  Thomas,  the  elder,  was  to  inherit  the 
homestead  and  lands  at  the  death  of  his  mother.  In  a 
codicil,  the  maker  of  the  will  revokes  his  bequest  to 
Thomas  in  favor  of  Henry  because  "  whereas  the  con- 
duct and  deportment  of  my  son,  Thomas,  for  a  consider- 
able time  past,  as  well  towards  his  Mother  and  myself 
and  others  of  my  family  has  been  and  still  continues 
to  be  such  as  has  given  the  greatest  anxiety  and  grief, 
and  being  unable  to  determine  in  mine  own  Judgment 
whether  his  said  conduct  and  deportment  proceed  from 
any  injury  he  may  have  sustained  in  his  intellects,  or 
are  the  effect  of  an  obstinate  and  undutiful  Temper  of 
Mind,  I  think  it  necessary,  in  either  case,  to  make  some 
alteration  in  the  disposition  of  my  estate.  ..." 

Henry  HoUyday,  the  son,  lived  to  a  green  old  age 
and  died  in  March,  1850,  leaving  his  lands  to  be  divided 
in  three  parts,  his  three  sons — Richard  C,  Thomas  R., 
and  William  M. — to  have  choice  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  named.  Richard  C,  the  eldest  son,  chose  as 
his  portion  that  third  which  contained  the  mansion  and 
at  his  death  left  the  place  to  his  wife  Marietta  Holly- 
day,  who  married  again,  becoming  the  wife  of  former 

150 


O 


GARDKN  KNTRANCK  TO  RATCLIFFE 


K-i^'-^'^^ 


.vX»*J?3ba 


RATCLIFFE,  FROM  THE  GARDEN 

1749 


RATCLIFFE  MANOR 


United  States  Senator  Charles  Hooper  Gibson.  From 
her  it  was  purchased,  in  1903,  by  its  present  occupant, 
A.  A.  Hathaway,  formerly  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.;  Mr. 
Hathaway's  family  consists  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  Miss 
Finney,  of  Milwaukee,  and  five  children, — three  sons 
and  two  daughters. 

Ratcliffe  Manor  has  no  ghosts  and  no  stories  of 
violent  death  or  suicide.  It  speaks  simply  of  gentility 
and  good  living. 


WYE  HOUSE 

TALBOT  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

LLOYD 


O  name  in  Maryland  history  is 
evocative  of  richer  historic 
memories  than  that  of  Lloyd. 
Seven  generations  of  this  illus- 
trious family  have  lived  at  Wye 
House  in  Talbot  County,  begin- 
ning with  Edward  Lloyd,  the 
First,  who  established  himself  there  in  1668.  Since 
that  time  the  estate  has  been  handed  down  from  one 
generation  of  Edward  Lloyd  to  another. 

The  first  two  Edwards  returned  to  England  and 
died  there,  but  in  the  old  family  burying  ground  at  Wye, 
which  stands  back  of  the  manor-house,  there  lie  four 
succeeding  generations  of  the  name.  Edward  Lloyd 
the  First  and  his  brother  Cornelius  settled  in  Virginia 
about  1635,  in  which  year  each  received  from  Capt. 
John  West  grants  of  land  on  the  Elizabeth  River. 

Edward  Lloyd  was  a  justice  and  lawyer  at  Norfolk 
in  1645,  and  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  from 
1644  until  1649,  in  which  latter  year  he  joined  the 
Puritan  Colony  in  Maryland.  On  the  20th  of  April, 
1650,  the  district  embracing  Providence  was  erected 
into  a  county  and  given  the  name  of  Anne  Arundel, 
and  Edward  Lloyd  was  made  commander  of  this  county 

152 


WYE  HOUSE 


by  Governor  Stone.  On  the  organization  of  Talbot 
County  in  the  year  1660,  having  large  landed  estates 
on  the  Eastern  Shore,  he  removed  to  that  county 
and  built  his  residence  on  the  Wye  River,  calling  it 
Wye  House. 

In  the  year  1660  Csecilius  Calvert,  second  Lord 
Baltimore,  commissioned  Col.  Edward  Lloyd — among 
others — to  be  Deputy  Governor  of  Maryland  in  the 
event  of  the  death  of  Governor  Philip  Calvert.  Phile- 
mon Lloyd  dying  before  his  father,  the  estate  passed  to 
his  son  Edward  Lloyd,  the  Second,  grandson  of  the 
first  miaster  of  Wye. 

The  original  Wye  House  was  burned  by  the  British 
in  1776,  and  was  looted  of  its  fine  paintings  and  rich 
plate  and  other  treasures.  All  the  old  records  of  the 
Lloyd  family  up  to  that  time  were  then  destroyed. 
After  the  war  several  pieces  of  plate  bearing  the  family 
arms  were  returned  by  the  crown. 

Of  the  original  manor  house  only  a  fragment  re- 
mains, and  that  is  now  used  as  an  outbuilding.  The 
present  Wye  House  was  built  just  before  the  end  of 
the  Revolutionary  War  by  Edward  Lloyd,  the  Fourth, 
and  remains  intact  to-day  just  as  constructed  more 
than  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago. 

The  main  building  is  of  two  lofty  stories,  containing 
the  hall,  drawing-room,  parlour,  dining-room  and 
chambers,  all  of  noble  proportions,  and  connects  by 

153 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

corridors  with  one-story  wings,  in  which  are  the  library 
on  one  side  and  domestic  offices  on  the  other,  presenting 
a  pleasing  fa9ade  of  two  hundred  feet,  commanding  a 
superb  view  of  the  Wye  River  and  the  bay. 

Back  of  the  manor-house  is  an  old  garden  with 
many  winding  walks  bounded  by  box-wood  hedges. 
To  one  side  of  the  garden  is  a  beautiful  stretch  of  lawn 
bounded  on  each  side  by  hedges,  at  the  ends  of  which 
is  an  imposing  old  building,  the  conservatory — a  relic 
of  colonial  days.  To  the  left  of  the  structure  is  an 
arch  of  brick  flanked  on  each  side  by  a  wall  fast  crumb- 
ling away.  No  one  seems  to  know  how  old  this  wall  is, 
but  it  was  probably  built  when  the  original  house  was 
constructed. 

An  arch  marks  the  entrance  to  the  burying  ground 
at  Wye.  On  each  side  of  the  walk  stands  a  gigantic 
tree — mute  sentinels  guarding  those  who  are  slumbering 
in  peace  in  the  graveyard,  which  contains  the  remains 
of  many  illustrious  members  of  the  Lloyd  family.  A 
number  of  the  gravestones  are  crumbling,  while  others 
have  been  repaired,  and  they  are  interesting  not  only 
on  account  of  their  great  age,  but  for  their  quaint 
inscriptions. 

One  of  the  oldest  and  most  interesting  in  the  grave- 
yard is  that  over  the  last  resting-place  of  the  famous 
Henrietta  Maria  Lloyd,  wife  of  Philemon,  son  of 
Edward  Lloyd,  the  First.  The  inscription  on  this 
stone  reads : 

154 


WYE  HOUSE 


Henrietta  Maria  Lloyd, 
Shee  who  now  takes  her  Rest  within  this  Tomb 
Had  Rachel's  Face  and  Leah's  fruitful  womb, 
Abigail's  Wisdom,  Lydia's  faithful  heart, 
With  Martha's  care  and  Mary's  better  Part. 
Who  died  the  21st  day  of  May 
(Anno)   Dom.   1697,  aged  50  years, 

months,  23  days. 

To  whose  Memory  Richard  Bennett  dedicates  this  Tomb. 

Of  this  Henrietta  Maria  Lloyd  it  has  been  said  "  the 
name  of  this  beautiful,  gracious  lady  stands  for  what- 
ever is  gentle  in  birth  and  in  breeding,  for  whatsoever 
is  excellent  in  character  and  conduct,  for  whatsoever 
is  of  good  report  of  the  honorable  men  and  women  of 
old  Maryland."  She  was  of  foreign  birth,  and  tradition 
has  it  that  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  of  England  stood 
sponsor  for  her  when  she  was  christened. 

From  the  Inventory  and  Accounts,  Liber  15,  page 
198,  Prerogative  Court  Records  of  Maryland,  Novem- 
ber 2,  1697,  we  quote: 

"  An  inventory  of  all  and  singular  the  goods  and  chattels  and 
credits  of  Madam  Henrietta  Maria  Lloyd,  of  Talbot  County, 
in  the  Province  of  Maryland,  lately  deceased." 

Among  these  goods  and  chattels  and  credits  may  be 
mentioned  Madam  Lloyd's  clothes,  which  are  inven- 
toried as  follows: 

1  satin  gown  and  petticoat,  1  silk  gown  and  petticoat,  1 
old  silk  gown  and  coat,  1  mourning  gown  and  quilted  petticoat, 

1  silk  mantel,  2  silk  petticoats  and  scarf,  a  good  warm  gown, 

2  smock  coats  and  2  waistcoats,  a  parcel  of  laces,  a  pair  of 

155 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

bodices,  a  gauze  coat,  1  flowered  satin  party  coat,  4  party  coats, 
4  pairs  of  shoes  and  1  pair  of  galoches,  silk  and  worsted  stock- 
ings, 2  head  dresses,  a  box  of  handkerchiefs,  3  pictures,  a  parcel 
of  neck  lace,  1  diamond  ring,  1  mourning  ring,  4  stone  rings, 
3  rings  and  a  pair  of  earrings,  2  pictures,  a  little  box  of  cash, 
a  flowered  "  satting  "  morning  gowne,  a  long  scarfe  lyned  with 
velvet,  a  parcel  of  silver  lace  and  footings,  2  pairs  stays,  1  black 
scarfe,  1  parcel  of  beads  and  silver  cross  and  snuff'-box,  1  gowne 
and  party  coats,  1  silk  petticoat  with  silver  fringe,  1  silk  moum- 
^g  gowne,  1  riding  gowne,  1  sable  tippet  and  strings,  2  short 
aprons,  girdle  and  mask,  etc. 

In  her  will  Madam  Lloyd  disposed  of  an  unusually 
large  estate,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  among  her 
effects  "  the  great  wrought  silver  dish  "  which  she  left 
to  her  three  daughters. 

Undoubtedly  one  of  the  prettiest  romances  asso- 
ciated with  Wye  House  is  that  of  the  two  brothers, 
Edward  Lloyd,  the  Second,  and  Philemon,  who  were 
rivals  for  the  beautiful  Sarah  Covington,  a  winsome 
Quaker  maiden.  According  to  the  tale,  Sarah  Coving- 
ton, mounted  on  a  pillion  behind  her  father,  rode  into 
Tred  Haven  to  attend  that  notable  yearly  meeting  to 
which  came  William  Penn,  Lord  and  Lady  Baltimore, 
and  others  of  note.  The  two  dashing  cavaliers  from 
Wye  House,  seeing  the  Quaker  maiden  from  Somerset 
for  the  first  time,  fell  desperately  in  love  with  her. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  without  acquainting 
each  other  of  their  intentions,  the  young  cavaliers  rode 
hard  and  fast  by  different  routes  into  the  neighbouring 
county,  meeting  at  the  fair  Quaker's  gate.     Guessing 

156 


WYE  HOUSE 


each  other's  secret,  they  agreed  that  he  who  had  seen 
her  first  should  first  have  the  privilege  of  seeking  to 
win  her.  Philemon,  it  appears,  had  seen  her  upon  first 
entering  the  meeting-house,  but  Edward  had  seen  her 
on  the  way  to  the  meeting-house,  and  of  him  the  Quaker 
maid's  father  had  inquired  the  road.  Whereupon 
Philemon  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  away,  while 
Edward  entered  the  Covington  home  and  in  due  course 
married  the  fair  Sarah. 

Sarah  Covington,  after  the  death  of  Edward  Lloyd, 
married  Col.  James  Hollyday,  and  was  first  mistress  of 
the  mansion  known  as  Readbourne  in  Queen  Anne 
County.  Philemon  Lloyd  was  Deputy  Secretary  of 
the  province  in  the  year  1709.  He  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Council  and  was  a  man  of  great  prominence  and 
influence  in  his  day. 

Each  Edward  Lloyd,  seven  of  whom  have  been 
masters  of  Wye  House,  in  succeeding  to  the  great 
ancestral  estates  of  Wye,  fell  heir  to  offices  of  public 
trust  and  honor,  and  we  find  in  this  distinguished 
family  three  governors,  councillors,  burgesses,  members 
of  Assembly,  presidential  electors,  captains  and  colonels 
in  colonial  and  revolutionary  times. 

Edward  Lloyd,  the  Fourth,  was  a  conspicuous 
patriot  through  the  entire  revolutionary  period.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Conventions  in  1775 
and  1776.  He  was  chosen  by  the  convention  of  1775  a 
member  of  the  commission  of  safety  of  the  Eastern 

157 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Shore.  In  1780,  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  lower  house  of 
Assembly,  and  in  1781-1786  and  1791  was  elected  to 
the  State  Senate.  In  1783-1784,  he  was  delegate  from 
Maryland  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  in  1788 
was  a  member  of  the  State  Convention  to  ratify  the 
Federal  Constitution. 

His  son  Edward  was  a  member  of  Congress  from 
1806  to  1809,  in  which  latter  year  he  became  Governor 
of  Maryland.  He  was  also  a  presidential  elector  in 
1812,  and  cast  his  vote  for  Madison.  From  1816  to 
1826,  in  which  year  he  resigned,  he  served  in  the  United 
States  Senate.  His  successors  have  continued  to  live 
the  life  of  wealthy  country  gentlemen,  but  have  ever 
responded  to  the  call  for  public  service,  in  the  discharge 
of  which  they  have  reflected  credit  upon  their  family 
name,  and  upon  the  State  of  Maryland. 

With  Wye  House  is  connected  the  name  of  that 
strange  historic  character,  Fred  Douglass.  This 
mulatto  boy,  the  illegitimate  son  of  a  white  man  of  con- 
siderable learning  and  a  coloured  woman  who  was 
owned  by  a  sailing  master  in  the  employ  of  Governor 
Lloyd,  was  born  at  St.  Michael's.  Until  he  was  eight 
years  of  age  this  Fred  Douglass  was  much  at  Wye,  and 
played  not  only  with  the  little  pickaninnies  there,  but 
frequently  with  the  governor's  son,  Daniel. 

When  about  nine  years  of  age,  the  boy,  who  had 
accompanied  his  master  on  a  trip  to  Baltimore,  ran 
away  and  was  lost  sight  of  for  years,  until  he  turned  up 

158 


WYE  HOUSE 


in  the  person  of  Fred  Douglass,  a  well-educated  and 
travelled  man  of  the  world.  He  was  said  to  have  been 
the  first  coloured  man  who  was  ever  dined  by  Queen 
Victoria,  an  honour  which  was  later  accorded  to  Booker 
T.  Washington.  He  was  also  entertained  at  the  White 
House  by  President  Cleveland,  although  in  so  doing  the 
President  was  severely  censured.  Douglass  was  at  one 
time  Minister  to  Hayti,  and  later  became  Marshal  of 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

About  1881,  the  old  man  was  moved  to  visit  the 
scenes  of  his  childhood.  In  company  with  several 
custom  ofiicers  from  Baltimore,  he  one  day  journeyed 
to  Wye,  and  in  the  absence  of  Col.  Edward  Lloyd  was 
shown  over  the  estate  by  the  colonel's  son  Howard. 
Although  he  was  but  a  child  when  he  had  last  visited 
Wye,  he  recalled  by  name  many  of  the  points,  creeks, 
bayous,  which  had  even  then  been  forgotten  by  the 
boatmen  around  St.  Michaels. 

It  is  said  that  the  venerable  old  negro,  apparently 
oblivious  of  his  companions,  fell  to  musing  in  a  negro 
dialect :  "  Dar,"  he  said,  "  is  war  me  and  Mars  Dan 
useter  trap  rabbits." 

Some  years  later  Mr.  Howard  Lloyd,  riding  to 
Philadelphia,  noticed  the  aged  figure  of  Fred  Douglass 
in  the  fore  part  of  the  car.  Before  reaching  his  destina- 
tion, Mr.  Lloyd  went  forward  to  speak  to  him.  At  first 
Douglass  seemed  not  to  recognize  Mr.  Lloyd  and 
greeted  him  with  a  cold  stare. 

159 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

"  I  don't  believe  you  recognize  me,  Marshal." 

The  marshal  paused,  looked  at  him  keenly,  then 
jumping  to  his  feet,  hat  in  hand,  he  exclaimed,  "  Yes, 
I  do;  it  is  Mr.  Howard  Lloyd." 

Douglass  begged  to  be  allowed  to  hold  the  watch  of 
the  former  governor  which  the  great-grandson  wore  at 
the  time  of  the  meeting.  Speaking  of  this  distinguished 
son  of  Maryland,  Douglass  said:  "  How  well  I  remem- 
ber him,  stately  old  gentleman,  moving  about  the  farm 
in  that  quiet,  dignified  way  of  his,  with  his  high  hat  and 
cane.  I  remember  when  the  governor  imported  a  bull 
of  special  breed  and  went  out  one  day  to  inspect  the 
animal.  As  he  moved  across  the  pasture,  the  bull 
glared  at  him  with  lowered  head,  but  the  governor,  not 
scenting  trouble,  went  on.  Presently,  with  a  roar,  the 
animal  made  for  the  old  gentleman.  That,"  said 
Douglass,  "  was  the  only  time  I  ever  saw  the  governor 
act  in  an  undignified  manner,  his  hat  went  one  way,  his 
cane  another,  while  the  governor  made  for  the  fence." 

Letters  found  in  possession  of  John  Brown  impli- 
cated Douglass  to  a  certain  extent.  Governor  Wise  of 
Virginia  made  a  requisition  on  President  Buchanan 
for  the  person  of  "  Frederick  Douglass,  a  negro  man, 
supposed  now  to  be  in  Michigan,  charged  with  murder, 
robbery  and  inciting  servile  insurrection  in  the  State 
of  Virginia."  Douglass  went  to  Canada  and  then  to 
England,  and  upon  his  return  to  America  the  matter 
had  been  lost  sight  of. 


READBOURNE 

QUEEN  ANNE'S  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

HOLLYDAY— PERRY 


N  ascending  the  Chester  River, 
which  forms  the  dividing  line  be- 
tween Kent  and  Queen  Anne's 
Counties  on  Maryland's  famous 
Eastern  Shore,  one  passes  through 
a  section  not  only  of  great  fertility, 
and  compelling  natural  beauty, 
but  of  rich  historic  memories.  There  is  something 
in  the  very  atmosphere  that  makes  one  sensible  of 
the  fact  that  he  breathes  an  air  laden  with  the  fra- 
grance of  a  bygone  age  before  he  has  seen  tangible 
earnest  of  the  fact.  Long  before  reaching  Indian 
Town — with  its  frequent  discovery  of  arrow  heads, 
tomahawks,  bits  of  pottery  in  a  more  or  less  excellent 
state  of  preservation,  and  the  numerous  ridges  where 
once  stood  the  wigwams  of  proud  Indian  chieftains — 
one's  thoughts  stray  back  to  those  stirring  days  of  fierce 
struggle  between  the  all-conquering  white  man  and  the 
savage  aborigine;  to  a  later  period  when  stately  man- 
sions supplanted  rude  log-cabins,  and  the  crude  struggle 
for  mere  subsistence  gave  way  to  a  life  of  luxury  and 
ease ;  and  when  the  "  call  to  arms,"  which  to  preceding 
generations  had  been  the  signal  to  fight  for  one's  hearth 
and  home,  for  the  preservation  of  life,  now  meant  no 


11 


161 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

more  than  to  trip  it  gracefully,  "  on  light,  fantastic 
toe,"  across  the  gleaming  ball-room  floor  with  "  milady," 
to  the  stately  measures  of  the  minuet. 

Readbourne  is  on  the  Queen  Anne's  side  of  the 
Chester  River  and  takes  its  name  from  George  Read, 
the  original  owner,  who  received  his  grant  in  1659.  The 
exact  size  of  the  plantation  is  unknown  but  is  supposed 
to  have  been  in  the  neighbourhood  of  two  thousand 
acres,  and  included  several  of  the  farms  lying  on  either 
side  of  the  river.  In  1733,  James  Holly  day  with  his 
wife,  Sarah  Covington  Lloyd  (widow  of  Edward  Lloyd 
of  Wye  House,  and  formerly  the  famous  beauty,  Sarah 
Covington)  came  to  this  estate  from  Talbot  County, 
and  here  built  the  beautiful  homestead  which  is  the 
subject  of  this  chapter. 

The  main  part  of  the  house  is  of  English  brick, 
and  Hollyday,  himself,  is  said  to  have  gone  to  Eng- 
land to  purchase  the  materials  while  his  fair  partner 
remained  at  home  to  superintend  the  building,  which 
she  had  planned  with  the  aid  of  the  then  Lord  Balti- 
more, her  husband's  intimate  friend.  At  the  death  of 
his  father,  James,  the  eldest  son,  a  colonial  lawyer  and 
statesman  of  great  eminence,  inherited  the  home,  but 
he  died  a  bachelor  and  Readbourne  went  to  his  nephew, 
James,  son  of  Henry  Hollyday,  at  Ratcliffe,  and  Anna 
Maria  Robins.  This  James  married  Susanna  Tilgh- 
man,  and  the  homestead  passed  in  a  direct  line  through 

162 


READBOURNE 


their  descendants  to  the  late  Richard  HoUyday,  the  last 
of  the  family  to  live  there.  The  present  owner  is  Mr. 
John  Perry,  and  Readbourne  is  now  occupied  by  the 
Perrys  as  their  summer  home. 

The  original  building  was  colonial  in  design  and 
finish,  with  large  wainscoted  halls  and  rooms.  There 
have  been  various  additions  and  alterations,  but  the 
main  part  has  been  substantially  unchanged  by  the 
successive  generations  which  have  called  it  home.  One 
of  the  chief  beauties  of  the  house  is  a  gracefully  wind- 
ing stairway  on  which,  no  doubt,  many  a  coquettish 
damosel  lingered  to  waft  a  coveted  kiss  from  her 
delicate  finger-tips  to  some  amorous  swain  below. 
There  are  about  the  place  the  foundations  of  many  small 
buildings,  probably  kitchen,  dairy,  etc.,  which  were 
connected  with  the  main  building.  One  of  these  ruins 
is  known  as  the  "  Old  Store  "  and,  in  all  likelihood,  was 
a  storehouse  for  supplies  ordered  from  England  which, 
owing  to  infrequent  opportunity,  had  to  be  imported  in 
large  quantities.  The  garden,  like  many  another  of  its 
kind,  is  terraced  down  to  the  river.  There  are  the  re- 
mains of  an  old  wall  of  English  brick  which  enclosed 
the  river-side  lawn. 

The  family  graveyard,  as  was  the  custom  at  that 
time,  is  in  full  sight  of  the  house,  where  the  quick  might 
be  ever  conscious  of  the  presence  of  the  dead.  This 
proximity  of  graveyard  to  dwelling  house  is  a  custom 

163 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

diflScult  to  understand  at  this  late  date,  but  it  was,  none 
the  less,  a  custom  almost  universally  observed.  The 
grave  of  the  first  Hollyday  of  Readbourne  is  marked 
with  a  large  flat  stone  engraved  with  the  family  coat 
of  arms  and  the  following  elaborate  inscription: 

Here  lies  the  body  of 

Colonel  James  Hollyday, 

who  departed  this  life, 

on  the 

eighth  day  of  October,  1747, 

aged  52  years. 

"  He  was  for  many  years  one  of  His  Lordship's  Council, 

and  in  public  and  private  life  always  supported  the  character 

of  a  worthy  gentleman  and  a  good  Christian." 

Readbourne  was  made  famous  by  the  lavish  hospi- 
tality of  its  fair  first  mistress,  and  was  the  rendezvous 
for  belles  and  beaux  of  the  surrounding  country.  Judg- 
ing from  her  portrait — now  in  the  possession  of  Col. 
Henry  Hollyday,  Jr.,  of  St.  Aubin  near  Easton,  Tal- 
bot County,  Maryland — she  was  a  woman  of  rare 
beauty,  and  one  can  readily  credit  the  many  tales  that 
still  obtain  of  her  charm  and  fascinating  personality. 

In  her  will,  probated  in  1775,  she  disposed  with 
great  scrupulousness  of  a  large  estate,  and  the  docu- 
ment contains  frequent  references  to  that  antique  in- 
stitution, "  a  mourning  ring." 

"  To  my  daughters-in-law,  Anne  Lloyd  and  Anna  Maria 
Hollyday,  to  each  of  them,  a  Mourning  Ring. 

164 


READBOURNE 


"  I  give  to  my  son-in-law,  William  Anderson,  a  Mourning 
Ring. 

"  For  as  much  as  my  dear  children  Edward  Lloyd,  Richard 
Lloyd  and  Rebecca  Anderson  are  settled  in  the  world  in  good 
circumstances  that  it  can  not  be  thought  that  they  stand  in  need 
of  any  assistance  from  me,  I  give  to  each  of  my  said  children  a 
Mourning  Ring.     .      .      . " 

This  will  is  one  of  the  records  of  Queen  Anne's 
County,  Maryland. 


BELMONT 

HOWARD  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 
DORSEY— HANSON 


ELMONT,  the  ancient  stronghold 
of  the  Dorseys  and  Hansons,  situ- 
ated on  a  high  hill  commanding 
a  view  of  twenty  miles  of  open 
country  on  three  sides,  is  about 
ten  miles  west  of  Baltimore  as 
the  crow  flies,  in  the  highlands  of 
the  Patapsco  River,  an  exceedingly  beautiful  estuary  of 
Chesapeake  Bay,  whose  deep-valleyed,  winding  course 
was  the  path  of  many  an  early  settler  in  Maryland  to 
the  back  reaches  of  the  province.  Indeed,  Belmont  was 
built  when  the  tide  of  settlement  was  still  flowing  from 
the  water-crevices  of  Maryland  to  the  hills  in  the  west, 
and  when  hostile  Indians  were  still  to  be  encountered. 
Measured  by  the  standards  of  the  day  in  which  it  was 
erected,  Belmont  lies  a  day's  journey  by  horseback 
north  of  Annapolis  on  the  Elk  Ridge  post-road,  and 
about  half  a  day's  journey  to  the  east  of  that  hustling, 
growing,  shipping  and  fishing  centre,  "  Baltemore 
Towne."  AnnapoHs  was  just  entering  upon  that  period 
of  commercial  and  social  splendour  which  was  to  make  it 
the  "  Athens  of  America,"  as  its  pre-revolutionary 
visitors  aifectionately  dubbed  it. 

We,  through  the  eyes  of  history,  may  look  back  and 
see,  about  the  year  1730,  one  of  those  peculiar  little 

166 


BELMONT 


surveying  parties  which  went  out  from  Annapolis  re- 
peatedly about  this  period  in  the  history  of  Maryland 
to  locate  desirable  stretches  of  land  in  the  back  country 
of  the  state  not  yet  covered  by  patents,  or  otherwise 
encumbered.  There  is  little  to  compare  them  to  now- 
adays, except  gold-seeking  parties,  only  the  former 
prospected  for  humble  earth  instead  of  regal  metal;  a 
difference  in  chemistry,  that's  all.  This  especial  party 
was  in  charge  of  a  certain  Mordecai  Moore,  a  surveyor 
of  good  reputation,  and  was  to  head  north  beyond  Elk 
Ridge  to  the  untouched  parts  of  wild  Baltimore  County, 
now  one  of  the  most  industrious  farming  sections  of 
Maryland. 

The  configuration  of  the  land  in  Maryland  just 
north  of  Annapolis  is  rather  peculiar  and  is  historically 
of  some  little  interest.  For  about  twenty  miles  due 
north  of  the  little  capital  it  continues  in  a  sort  of  spiny 
ridge  even  to-day  thickly  wooded,  and  then  turns 
sharply  (about  where  is  the  present-day  thriving  city 
of  Laurel)  to  the  east,  to  the  valley  of  the  Patapsco, 
the  two  sides  of  this  angle  being  about  equal  in  length. 
Because  of  the  greater  height  of  this  land  above  its 
surroundings,  it  became  a  favourite  place  for  home 
sites  with  the  early  settlers.  From  the  abundance  of  a 
certain  species  of  game  to  be  found  in  its  woods  it 
gained  the  name  of  '^Elk  Ridge,"  so  that  eventually 
the  little  city  which  grew  up  at  its  Patapsco  River 
terminus  was  known  as  "  Elk  Ridge  Landing." 

167 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

There  are  few  records  of  Mordecai  Moore,  surveyor, 
and  he  did  not  make  a  lasting  imprint  in  the  life  of  the 
colony.  Yet  he  founded  well  for  others  to  build  upon. 
Our  little  surveying  party  under  his  direction  was  en- 
camped one  autumn  morning  on  the  heights  above  the 
Patapsco  River  when  its  leader  arose  early,  before  any- 
one else  was  astir.  The  mists  were  rising  from  the  river, 
and  the  land  sloped  away  from  his  feet  to  a  generous 
horizon  on  three  sides,  while  behind  was  a  little  hill 
which  would  protect  one  from  the  northwest  winds.  It 
was  an  ideal  site  for  a  home,  and  Mordecai  Moore  was 
not  slow  to  realize  this  fact.  "  Here  wiU  I  build  me  a 
house,"  he  said  to  his  soul;  and,  after  he  had  wakened 
his  companions  and  the  sun  had  climbed  up  into  the  sky, 
he  set  himself  to  survey  a  tract  of  land  which  included 
more  than  ten  thousand  acres  centring  at  the  point 
whereon  he  had  his  camp.  This  tract  he  named  in  his 
patent  papers,  approved,  in  due  course,  by  the  pro- 
prietary, "  Moore's  morning  choice."  Here,  not  many 
years  later,  Belmont  was  erected,  on  the  site  of  Moore's 
morning  camp. 

We  do  not  find  that  our  early  morning  surveyor 
long  held  on  to  the  tract  of  land  which  his  enterprise  had 
gotten  him.  About  the  year  1735  he  sold  it  to  rich  Caleb 
Dorsey,  of  Annapolis,  by  whom  it  was  given  to  his  son, 
Caleb,  the  large-hearted  iron-maker  of  Maryland  annals, 
who,  in  1738,  built  thereon  the  beautiful  home  to  which 
he  took  his  young  bride,  Priscilla  Hill,  of  West  River. 

168 


BELMONT 


Over  the  doorway  of  Belmont  to-day  we  may  see  a 
wooden  tablet  set  in  the  stone  bearing  the  initials, 
quaintly  carved,  "  C.  P.  D."  (which  stand  for  "  Caleb  '* 
and  "PrisciUa"  (Hill)  "Dorsey")  and  "1738,"  the 
date  of  the  erection  of  the  house. 

This  marriage  of  Caleb  Dorsey's  had  a  romantic 
basis.  Like  most  men,  young  and  old,  of  his  day,  Caleb 
was  an  ardent  fox-hunter,  and  in  this  but  followed  his 
father  who,  at  Hockley-in-the-Hole,  often  hallooed  on 
the  hounds.  The  foxes  of  that  day  were  all  red  foxes, 
the  grey  variety  not  being  abundant  at  any  time  in 
Maryland.  One  winter  a  grey  fox  appeared  on  Elk 
Ridge,  having  come  from  Canada,  maybe.  He  received 
a  greeting  from  the  hard-living,  open-air  people  of  the 
neighbourhood,  which  would  have  satisfied  the  most 
captious  animal,  and  was  acclaimed  the  prize  of  the 
country-side.  Strong  men  wrought  through  long  days 
to  kill  him,  and  it  became  a  point  of  honor  with  the 
people  of  the  neighbourhood  to  see  who  should  have  the 
coveted  trophy  of  his  brush. 

One  day  young  Caleb  Dorsey  was  out  with  his 
hounds,  when  he  started  this  famous  grey  fox.  The 
chase,  though  it  had  a  happy  conclusion  from  young 
Caleb's  standpoint — ^being  successful  in  its  object — 
led  him  from  early  morning  till  late  afternoon  far  down 
in  a  distant  southerly  part  of  the  state  of  which  he  knew 
little.  The  marks  of  land  around  him  he  did  not  know, 
the  trails  were  not  familiar  to  him,  and  he  was  about  to 

160 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

make  up  his  mind  to  a  night  in  the  woods,  when  down 
a  little  lane  rode  a  beautiful  young  lady.  She  was  about 
to  ride  by  when  she  spied  the  grey  fox  brush  on  his 
saddle. 

"  How  may  I  get  to  '  Hockley '  above  Annapolis?  " 
asked  the  youth. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  the  maid  (so  the  story 
runs),  "  but  if  you  keep  down  this  lane  for  half  a  mile 
and  turn  to  the  left  you  will  come  to  a  house  where  they 
may  direct  you." 

This  was  her  own  father's  home  and  she  knew,  the 
story  goes,  that  this  fiery  old  gentleman  would  never 
let  the  boy  go  home  that  night  until  he  had  heard  the 
whole  story  of  the  destruction  of  the  fox.  So  it  tiu*ned 
out.  Old  Mr.  Hill  no  sooner  saw  the  young  man  with 
the  grey-fox  tail  than  he  immediately  wished  to  hear  all 
of  the  circumstances  of  the  hunt. 

"Go  home  to-night?  Why  no;  impossible!  It  is 
too  far;  the  trail  is  choked  up.  I  would  not  think  of 
letting  you  go  home  to-night!  !  !  Boys  "  (turning  to  the 
house  servants),  "take  this  gentleman's  horse  and 
hounds  to  the  stables.    Do  you  see  that  brush  he  has  ? " 

To  teU  the  truth,  so  our  chronicles  run,  young  Dor- 
sey  was  not  unwilling  to  stay,  and  wished  to  continue  his 
acquaintance  with  the  fair  lady  of  the  lane.  The  even- 
ing was  begun  with  tales  of  fox-hunting,  and  after  this 
topic  had  been  exhausted  the  old  gentleman  put  a 
handkerchief  over  his  face  and  went  to  sleep ;  when  the 

170 


BELMONT 


latest  gossip  of  Annapolis,  the  possibility  of  a  theatre 
being  opened  in  that  metropolis,  the  routs,  and  the 
newest  fashions,  and  such  other  subjects  had  the  floor. 

Caleb  did  not  go  home  the  next  day,  or  the  next, 
though  he  did  finally  leave  after  he  had  told  that  fox  tale 
until  even  the  old  gentleman  would  not  listen  to  it. 
Gossip  began  to  say  that  he  found  a  great  many  foxes 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  West  River  to  hunt.  "  No," 
replied  wise  ones,  "he  is  not  hunting  foxes  there;  he  is 
hunting  dear  I "  As  we  know,  he  was  successful  in  the 
hunt.  He  secured  "  Moore's  morning  choice  "  from  his 
father,  built  Belmont,  took  up  his  life  there  with  the 
fair  Priscilla,  and  became  that  solid  man  of  affairs 
which  he  has  been  written  in  Maryland's  history. 

Caleb  Dorsey  inherited  a  large  fortune  from  his 
father,  but  it  was  very  greatly  increased  through  his 
development  of  the  iron  ore  resources  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Belmont.  With  his  brother,  Edward,  he  built 
a  foundry  at  Avalon,  on  the  Patapsco,  near  his  house, 
and  the  ruins  of  this  foundry  may  still  be  seen  at  the 
little  post-ofRce  station  there  which  has  taken  its  name 
from  the  mill.  Farther  south  he  built  a  second  and 
larger  foundry,  which  he  called  Hockley  in  honour  of  his 
boyhood  home,  and  a  third  nearer  Belmont. 

The  Patapsco  River,  upon  which  each  of  these  mills 
depended  for  shipping  its  product,  was  more  navigable 
in  that  day  than  it  is  now.  The  cutting  of  the  forests, 
for  one  thing,  has  allowed  the  river  to  fill  up  so  that, 

171 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

where  a  hundred  years  ago  it  supported  a  full-rigged 
schooner,  it  is  to-day  but  a  burbling  shallows.  Ships 
could  then  come  up  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which 
Belmont  is  situated,  and  here  grew  up  the  thriving  little 
seaport  town  of  Elkridge  Landing. 

It  is  a  strange  story,  this  of  the  growth  and  fall  of 
Elkridge  Landing.  There  are  still  people  in  Elkridge 
Landing  who  can  remember  when  ships  could  come  up 
the  river  to  its  wharves,  and  when  the  river  had  an  open 
channel  ten  feet  deep  from  there  to  the  bay.  It  was 
created  a  port  of  entry  of  the  province,  and  not  only 
carried  away  Caleb's  iron  manufactures,  but  tobacco  in 
great  quantities.  The  tobacco  was  rolled  in  casks  by 
long  strings  of  slaves  down  the  old  "  Rolling  Road," 
still  in  use  from  the  northern  part  of  the  state.  Next 
to  Annapolis,  it  was  one  of  the  most  important  shipping 
points  in  the  colony.  With  the  filling  up  of  the  river, 
however,  its  glory  departed  and  to-day  it  is  a  dreaming 
country  village  with  high-pitched,  old-time  roofs,  great 
chimneys  that  know  now  only  a  thin  wisp  of  smoke,  and 
houses  with  traditions  of  visits  of  Washington  and 
Lafayette,  with  no  hint  of  ships  or  things  that  "  go 
down  to  the  sea." 

A  delightful  company  filled  old  Belmont  when  it  was 
young,  and  in  those  exciting  times  prior  to  the  outbreak 
of  the  Revolution,  many  a  stormy  gathering  was 
sheltered  within  its  walls.  The  Dorseys  were  strong  in 
the  colonial  cause,  and  many  of  the  cannon  used  by 

17« 


BELMONT 


American  troops  against  the  British  were  cast  at  Caleb 
Dorsey's  iron-works.  Washington  was  a  guest  not  in- 
frequently at  Belmont,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  sage 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  also,  as  we  know  that  he  visited 
Elkridge  Landing. 

The  children  of  Caleb  and  Priscilla  Hill  Dorsey 
included  three  sons  (Edward,  Henry  Hill  and  Samuel) 
and  six  daughters  (Mary,  Milcah,  Rebecca,  Priscilla, 
Peggy  Hill  and  Elinor).  Edward  married  his  cousin, 
Elizabeth  Dorsey,  daughter  of  Col.  John  Dorsey  and 
Mary  Hammond,  his  wife,  and  was  the  inheritor  of 
Belmont.  Henry  Hill  married  Eliza  Goodwin ;  Samuel 
married  Margaret  Sprigg  (in  this  line  of  descent  is  Mrs. 
Handy,  of  Richmond) ;  Mary  married  Dr.  Michael  Pue 
(a  descendant  is  W.  Ventress  Pue,  of  Texas) ;  Milcah 
married  William  Goodwin;  Rebecca  married  Captain 
Charles  Ridgely,  of  Hampton;  Priscilla  married 
Charles  Carnan  Ridgely;  Peggy  Hill  married  William 
Buchanan;  and  Elinor  died  unmarried. 

Edward  Dorsey,  next  owner  of  Belmont,  was  popu- 
larly known  as  "  Iron-head  Ned."  A  strong-fisted,  big- 
hearted  man,  he  ran  his  father's  mills  in  partnership 
with  his  brother  Samuel.  He  had  one  son  and  three 
daughters.  Hammond  Dorsey  married  Elizabeth 
Pickering,  of  Massachusetts,  and  built  a  fine  brick 
homestead,  still  to  be  seen,  near  the  post-office  of  Relay. 
Mary  married  Daniel  Murray,  of  Annapolis,  whose 
sister,  Annie  Murray,  became  the  wife  of  Gen.  John 

173 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Mason,  of  Virginia.  Caroline  married  Johnston 
Donaldson;  and  Priscilla,  who  inherited  Belmont, 
married  Alexander  Contee  Hanson,  whose  descendants 
hold  the  old  homestead. 

The  marriage  of  Priscilla  Dorsey  and  Alexander 
Contee  Hanson  was  an  elopement.  The  girl  was  living 
with  guardians  in  Baltimore,  who  would  not  give  their 
consent  to  the  match.  With  the  temper  inherited  from 
her  father  aroused,  she  went  to  Annapolis  with  the  man 
she  loved  and  was  there  married.  The  elopement  was 
not  without  its  excitement,  as  the  carriage  in  which  the 
pair  was  making  the  trip  broke  a  wheel  pin.  Had  it 
not  been  for  the  extraordinary  foresight  of  the  pro- 
spective groom  who  had  provided  for  just  such  a  con- 
tingency, the  marriage  would  inevitably  have  been 
postponed. 

The  children  of  Priscilla  Dorsey  and  Alexander 
Contee  Hanson  were  many,  but  only  one  lived  to 
maturity,  Charles  Grosvenor  Hanson,  named  for  his 
paternal  uncle,  Charles  Grosvenor,  member  of  Con- 
gress from  New  York.  He  married  Annie  Maria 
Worthington,  and  had  children:  John  Worthington 
Hanson,  Murray  Hanson,  Grosvenor  Hanson,  Nannie 
Hanson,  and  Florence  Hanson.  These  five  constitute 
the  present-day  circle  of  this  beautiful  old  home. 

Belmont,  like  other  colonial  Maryland  mansions,  con- 
sists of  a  central  building  with  wings.  The  centre  build- 
ing is  traversed  by  a  hallway  running  from  front  to 

174 


BELMONT 


back,  and  the  wings  are  connected  with  the  main  body 
of  the  house.  The  downstairs  rooms  and  the  hall  are 
beautifully  panelled  with  oak  from  floor  to  ceiling,  and 
so  hard  is  this  wood  to-day  that  it  resists  all  but  the 
sturdiest  saws,  as  carpenters  have  learned  to  their  cost 
when  they  have  had  slight  alterations  to  the  house  to 
effect.  In  the  right  wing  is  the  kitchen;  in  the  left  wing 
is  the  ball-room,  an  octagonal  apartment,  generous  in 
size,  panelled  in  oak  and  with  a  large  open  fireplace. 
The  second  floor  is  occupied  by  sleeping  rooms. 

The  entrance  is  a  graceful  Georgian  portico.  At  the 
back  of  the  house  is  a  broad  and  comfortable  veranda 
overlooking  the  old  garden,  of  which  there  remains  a 
box-hedge,  believed  to  have  been  planted  when  the 
mansion  was  built,  and  now  over  twenty  feet  in  height; 
such  a  Gargantuan  box-hedge  is  rarely  to  be  seen!  The 
ground  on  which  the  house  is  placed  is  terraced,  and  the 
view  from  front  or  sides  is  still  as  delectable  as  when 
Mordecai  Moore  arose  in  the  early  morning  and  saw 
that  the  land  whereon  he  had  struck  his  camp  was  filled 
with  beauty.  About  half  a  mile  behind  the  house  on  the 
crest  of  a  hill  is  the  "  God's  half  acre,"  where  lie  the 
bones  of  the  successive  generations  that  have  been 
sheltered  within  Belmont's  walls. 

Alexander  Contee  Hanson,  the  first  Hanson  to  live 
at  Belmont,  is  a  conspicuous  figure  in  Maryland  annals. 
Firm  in  his  convictions,  fluent  in  speech,  of  fine  address 
and  manner,  he  was  the  representative  of  his  state  for 

175 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

many  years  in  the  United  States  Senate.  He  was  a 
friend  of  Henry  Clay,  who  was  often  his  guest  at 
Belmont.  Among  the  Belmont  papers  is  a  letter  from 
Hanson  to  his  wife,  asking  her  to  have  six  pairs  of 
slippers  for  himself  and  guests,  among  whom  was  Clay, 
when  they  arrived  from  Washington.  It  was  the  custom 
for  the  men  of  that  time  to  wear  only  great  boots,  and 
in  the  evening  they  wished  to  be  comfortable  and  would 
put  on  as  light  gear  as  they  could.  The  chair  in  which 
Clay  loved  to  sit  at  Belmont  is  still  kept  in  his  favourite 
place  before  the  fire,  and  the  great  table  in  the  dining- 
room,  around  which  he  and  other  distinguished  guests 
were  wont  to  gather,  is  still  in  use  and  still  maintains 
the  same  generous  hospitality. 

Sometimes,  on  dark,  windy  nights,  in  the  old  house 
you  hear  the  Belmont  ghost.  At  least  once  a  winter 
does  it  come.  You  are  sitting,  let  us  say,  before  the 
open  fire  in  which  Clay  delighted,  you  hear  the  wind 
lonesomely  without,  and  suddenly  there  is  the  sound  of 
horses'  hoofs  and  jangling  harness;  many  horses  evi- 
dently, and  the  harness  and  wheels  seem  to  creak  and 
rumble  more  heavily  than  harness  and  wheels  of  nowa- 
days. You  start  to  the  door,  but  you  hear  the  rustle  of 
other  feet  ahead  of  you  on  the  same  errand,  though  you 
see  no  one.  The  door  opens,  and  there  is  the  scraping 
of  feet  as  people  come  in.  You  are  now  standing  up  in 
alarm. 

"  What  is  it? "  you  ask. 

178 


BELMONT 


"  Oh,  that  is  just  some  of  the  forefathers  coming 
home  from  Amiapolis  in  the  coach  and  six." 

You  hear  the  sound  of  wheels  driving  away  around 
the  house  towards  the  stables,  the  creak  of  harness  and 
clatter  of  hoofs.  The  rest  is  silence.  This  is  the  Bel- 
mont ghost. 

The  Hanson  family  is  traced  to  Roger  de  Rastrick 
who,  in  1251,  was  seated  at  Rastrick  in  the  County  of 
Halifax,  England.  The  family  name  of  to-day  origi- 
nated in  1330,  when  John  de  Rastrick  of  the  seventh 
generation  from  the  founder  assumed  the  name  Han- 
son, a  diminutive  of  Henry's  son,  and  signed  himself 
John  Hanson  to  a  deed  in  1337. 

John  Hanson,  of  London,  of  the  fifteenth  genera- 
tion, while  making  a  summer  tour  of  Sweden  fell  in  love 
with  and  married  Margaret  Vasa,  granddaughter  of 
Gustavus  Vasa,  and  connection  of  the  famous  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  of  Sweden.  He  had  a  son  who  was  reared 
by  the  latter,  at  a  suitable  age  entered  the  army,  served 
with  credit,  rose  to  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  fell  at 
Luetzen,  November  16,  1632,  with  his  sovereign,  whom 
he  was  attempting  to  defend.  This  son  left  four  chil- 
dren: Andrew,  Randall  or  Randolph,  William,  and 
John,  who  were  taken  under  the  immediate  protection 
of  the  royal  family  of  Sweden,  and  in  August,  1642, 
were  sent  to  the  New  World  in  the  care  of  Col.  John 
Printz,  Governor  of  New  Sweden,  on  the  Delaware. 
The  family  in  this  country  has  given  many  strong  men, 

12  177 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

especially  during  the  days  which  led  up  to,  and  con- 
cluded, the  Revolution. 

Of  the  four  sons  above  mentioned,  Andrew,  the 
eldest,  settled  on  Kent  Island,  Maryland,  in  1653,  and 
died  there  in  1655,  leaving  a  wife  and  five  children: 
Hans,  Frederick,  Katherine,  Margaret,  and  a  posthu- 
mous child,  Barbara. 

Randolph,  the  second  of  the  four,  was  a  bold  and 
ambitious  man,  according  to  the  chronicles  of  the  day. 
He  went  to  St.  Mary's,  the  seat  of  the  government  of 
Maryland,  to  carve  out  his  fortunes  with  his  sword,  and 
was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  those  troublous  times.  His 
daughter  Barbara  married  Thomas  Hatton,  Gentleman, 
a  grandnephew  of  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  of  Hatton 
Hall,  England,  Lord  High  Chancellor  of  England  and 
famous  courtier  of  the  circle  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

William,  the  third  son,  accompanied  Randolph  to 
St.  Mary's,  but  returned  to  Kent  Island,  where  he  died 
in  1684,  leaving  only  his  "  loving  wife  Alice." 

Colonel  John,  the  youngest  son,  removed  to  Mary- 
land in  1653,  and,  after  a  short  sojourn  on  Kent  Island, 
went  to  St.  Mary's.  Finally,  about  1656,  he  settled  in 
Charles  County,  where  he  lived  until  his  death.  In  his 
will,  dated  December  12,  1713,  he  styles  himself  "  a 
planter  of  Charles  County,"  and  mentions  seven  chil- 
dren, forming  a  lusty  line  of  descent — Robert,  Benja- 
min, Mary  (the  wife  of  the  Rev.  William  Maconchie), 
Anne,  Sarah,  John,  and  Samuel. 

178 


ENTRANCE  TO  BELMONT 


BELMONT 


Of  these,  Robert  had  children:  Samuel,  William, 
Dorothy,  Mary,  Sarah,  Violetta,  and  Benjamin. 
Dorothy  married  Richard  Harrison.  Mary  married 
John  Briscoe.  Samuel  became  the  father  of  John 
Hanson,  progenitor  of  the  branch  of  the  family  con- 
nected with  Belmont,  and  of  Samuel — ^revolutionary 
patriots  both — Judge  Walter,  William,  Elizabeth, 
Charity,  Jane,  and  Chloe.  Elizabeth  married  Benjamin 
Douglas,  who  was  buried  at  Equality,  an  estate  owned 
by  his  son-in-law,  David  Stone,  a  lineal  descendant  of 
William  Stone,  Governor  of  Maryland,  1649-1654. 

John  Hanson,  son  of  Samuel,  born  in  Charles 
Coimty,  Maryland,  in  1715,  was  president  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  which  assembled  in  Philadelphia 
during  the  Revolution,  and  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as 
the  "  first  President  of  the  United  States,"  as  his  title 
was  "  President  of  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled."  His  statue  has  been  placed  by  Maryland 
in  Statuary  Hall,  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
as  one  of  her  two  sons  whose  names  are  most  cherished. 
He  married  Jane  Contee,  and  had  children:  Alexander 
Contee ;  Samuel,  surgeon  of  Washington's  Life  Guards, 
killed  while  fighting  at  Fort  Washington;  Catherine 
Contee,  who  married  Philip  Alexander,  of  Virginia; 
Jane,  who  married  John  Thomas,  of  Maryland;  and 
Elizabeth. 

Alexander  Contee  Hanson  was  born  in  Annapolis, 
October  22,  1749.    He  was  educated  at  the  College  of 

179 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Philadelphia,  studied  law  in  Annapolis,  and  started  for 
England  to  be  ordained  for  the  ministry  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church,  but  was  wrecked,  rescued  and 
taken  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  became  assistant  pri- 
vate secretary  to  General  Washington,  his  first  cousin 
(Robert  Hanson  Harrison,  of  Virginia)  being  chief 
secretary.  After  two  months  in  this  post,  his  health 
forsook  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  resign.  He  visited 
Washington  at  headquarters  just  after  the  battle  of 
Brandywine,  and  was  present  when  the  two  armies  were 
separated  by  a  violent  shower  of  rain.  He  accompanied 
Washington  to  a  farmhouse,  and,  being  still  in  poor 
health,  was  obliged  to  accept  Washington's  offer  of  his 
bed  for  the  night.  Alexander  Hamilton  curled  up  in 
one  corner  of  the  room  on  the  floor,  and  afterwards 
Hanson  would  good-naturedly  remark  that  he  "  never 
saw  a  man  look  so  much  like  a  cat."  In  1784,  he  was 
appointed  with  Samuel  Chase  to  digest  the  laws  of 
Maryland  from  1763,  and  this  work,  a  monument  to 
his  memory,  is  known  as  "  Hanson's  Laws."  He  was  a 
delegate  in  1788  to  the  convention  which  ratified  the 
federal  constitution,  and  declined  a  federal  judgeship 
to  become  Chancellor  of  Maryland.  He  married 
Rebecca  Howard  of  Annapolis,  and  left  children: 
Charles  Wallace,  who  married  Rebecca  Ridgely,  eldest 
daughter  of  Governor  Charles  Ridgely,  of  Hampton, 
and  had  no  issue ;  Alexander  Contee,  who  married  Pris- 
cilla  Dorsey,  of  Belmont ;  and  Mary  Jane,  who  married 

180 


BELMONT 


Peabody  Grosvenor,  Member  of  Congress  from  New 
York. 

Alexander  Contee  Hanson,  Jr.,  was  born  at  his 
father's  home  in  Annapolis,  February  27,  1786.  He 
was  educated  at  St.  John's  College,  Annapolis,  at  that 
time  under  the  direction  of  John  McDowell,  who  be- 
came provost  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
while  yet  in  his  sixteenth  year  had  gone  through  all  of 
the  branches  taught  at  his  school  except  French,  for 
which  he  conceived  an  aversion  he  never  overcame,  owing 
to  the  shocking  deeds  done  by  the  Jacobins  of  France 
as  recorded  in  the  "  Bloody  Buoy,"  compiled  and  pub- 
lished by  William  Cobbett,  bookseller  of  Philadephia, 
and  other  like  tracts  of  that  period.  He  became  a  con- 
tributor to  the  press  of  the  day,  and  at  length  edited 
the  Federal  Republican,  of  Baltimore,  in  which  he  de- 
nounced the  federal  administration.  Violent  strictures 
of  those  in  authority  not  being  so  amiably  received  by 
the  populace  of  that  time  as  this,  the  people  of  the  city 
sacked  his  printing  plant.  After  a  temporary  suspen- 
sion, the  journal  was  reissued,  July  27,  1812,  simulta- 
neously in  Baltimore  and  Georgetown,  D.  C.  This  led 
to  another  attack  upon  the  newspaper  office  on  July 
28,  1812,  and  an  armed  collision  between  those  who  de- 
fended the  establishment  and  those  who  attacked  it. 
Mr.  Hanson  and  his  friends  surrendered  to  the  city 
authorities  under  promise  of  protection.  The  murder- 
ous attack  by  the  mob  on  the  jail  in  which  they  were 

181 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

confined  is  a  matter  of  Baltimore  history.  Mr.  Hanson 
was  left  for  dead,  but  recovered  after  a  painful  illness. 
In  1813  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  where  he  served 
from  May  24  of  that  year  to  January  2,  1817,  when  he 
took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  in  place  of  Robert  Goodloe 
Harper,  resigned.  He  was  returned  for  the  next 
term,  and  was  a  senator  until  his  death,  at  Belmont, 
May  23,  1819.  He  was  a  man  of  many  friendships  and 
entertained  lavishly.  His  runaway  marriage  with  Pris- 
cilla  Dorsey  has  already  been  recounted. 

Jane  Contee  Hanson  (daughter  of  John,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  Jane  Contee) 
married  Dr.  Philip  Thomas,  delegate  from  Frederick 
County  to  the  Maryland  convention  of  1774.  Their  son, 
John  Hanson  Thomas,  born  in  Frederick,  1779,  died 
1815,  married  (October  5, 1809)  at  Honeywood,  Berke- 
ley County,  Virginia,  Mary  Isham  Colston,  a  descendant 
of  William  Brewster,  who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower 
with  the  Plymouth  colony  in  1620,  and  was  the  first 
elder  of  that  settlement.  She  was,  also,  a  descendant  of 
Henry  Isham,  of  England,  colonist  to  Virginia  in  1675. 
Their  son,  John  Hanson  Thomas  the  second,  of  Freder- 
ick, Maryland,  born  in  1813,  died  in  1881,  married 
Annie  Campbell  Gordon,  of  Virginia.  Of  this  union 
came  Mr.  Douglas  Hamilton  Thomas,  of  Baltimore, 
who  married  Alice  Lee  Whitridge,  Basil  Gordon 
Thomas,  John  Hanson  Thomas  the  third,  Raleigh 
Colston  Thomas,  Nannie  Gordon  Thomas,  Mary  Ran- 

182 


BELMONT 


dolph  Thomas,  and  John  Marshall  Thomas  (whose  son 
is  John  Gregg  Thomas,  and  whose  daughter  is  Natalie 
Contee  Thomas). 

Of  the  marriage  of  Douglas  Hamilton  Thomas  and 
Alice  Lee  Whitridge  was  born  Douglas  N.  Thomas,  of 
Baltimore,  who  married  Bessie  Chadwick;  John  Hanson 
Thomas,  of  Baltimore;  and  Alice  Lee  Thomas. 

Samuel  Hanson,  brother  of  John  Hanson,  the 
revolutionary  patriot,  had  the  following  children: 
Samuel,  who  married  May  Kay,  daughter  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  Kay,  of  New  Jersey;  John  Contee;  Capt. 
Thomas  Hawkins,  who  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of 
Walter  and  Mary  Grafton  Dulany ;  Sarah,  who  married 
Dr.  William  Beane,  of  Upper  Marlboro ;  Elizabeth,  who 
married  Addison ;  Eleanor,  who  married  General  Chap- 
man; Mildred,  who  married  Dr.  William  Baker;  Chloe, 
who  married  Gen.  George  Lee,  son  of  Governor  Thomas 
Sim  Lee  and  nephew  of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  the  signer ; 
Anne,  who  married  Nicholas  Lingan,  brother  of  Gen. 
James  Maccubbin  Lingan. 

Of  the  union  of  Samuel  the  third  and  May  Kay 
came  Samuel  the  fourth,  who  settled  in  Kentucky  and 
was  the  father  of  Gen.  Roger  Weightman  Hanson,  who 
fell  mortally  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro, 
Tennessee,  and  the  Honourable  Richard  Hickman  Han- 
son, of  Paris,  Kentucky;  Isaac  Kay,  who  married  Maria 
Storer;  Maria,  who  married  Daniel  Sheify;  Louisa 
Serena,  who  married  Gen.  Roger  Chew  Weightman. 

183 


MOUNT  AIRY 

CROOME,  PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

CALVERT— DUVALL 


N  a  grove  of  great  oaks  in  southern 
Maryland  is  a  royal  old  homestead 
deep  in  colourful  memories  of  the 
past.  This  is  Mount  Airy,  the 
Calvert  mansion,  near  Croome, 
Prince  George's  County,  Mary- 
land, the  seat  of  the  descendants  of  Lord  Baltimore 
in  the  United  States.  A  popular  picnic  point  for 
automobile  parties  from  Washington  now,  the  place 
has  sheltered  many  notable  people  and  has  been  the  scene 
of  many  a  brilliant  social  gathering.  Here  Washington's 
stepson,  George  Parke  Custis,  found  his  bride,  Eleanor 
Calvert,  and  lived  out  the  brief  span  of  his  life.  Here, 
too,  Washington  was  a  frequent  visitor  even  before  the 
Revolution — it  is  not  a  long  day's  journey  from  Mount 
Vernon. 

Standing  before  the  door  of  the  old  home,  we  can 
imagine  the  great  coaches  of  our  great-grandfathers, 
requiring  four  or  six  horses  to  move  them — and  un- 
comfortable then — lumbering  up  through  the  long  aisle 
of  high  trees  and  discharging  their  polite  and  elegant 
freight;  for  Mount  Airy  was  a  centre  of  hospitality  of 
the  old  Maryland  order  where  a  guest  came  at  his  will 
and  stayed  for  a  day,  or  weeks,  as  he  chose.    What  an 

184 


MOUNT  AIRY 


alluring  gossip  of  picturesque  figures  might  the  house 
chat  in  its  old  man's  tone  if  it  could! 

In  the  halls  of  the  old  home  the  romantic  figure  of 
Eleanor  Calvert,  the  bride  of  young  Custis,  can  be 
pictured.  She  was  a  great  horsewoman,  and  frequently 
hunted  over  the  country-side.  Glimpses  of  her  beauty 
have  been  preserved  in  miniatures  and  in  an  old  painting 
which,  until  a  few  years  ago,  hung  at  Mount  Airy.  Dur- 
ing Washington's  occupancy  of  the  White  House  she 
was  a  frequent  visitor,  and  there  is  a  painting  of  Mrs. 
Washington  in  which  Eleanor  is  shown,  a  beautiful 
figure,  to  the  elder  woman's  right. 

We  may  not  see  her  young  husband  so  clearly 
through  the  mists  of  time.  A  delicate  gentleman,  he 
lived  only  five  years  after  his  marriage,  and  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty-eight  years,  leaving  four  children.  He 
was  married  February  3,  1774,  in  the  parlour  of  Mount 
Airy.  A  glimpse  of  him  we  have  in  the  following  letter 
written  by  Washington  to  the  boy's  tutor :  "  I  will 
allow  you  an  extra  sixty  dollars  for  your  pains  with 
Parke.  I  want  you  to  be  good  to  him  for  he  is  a  most 
promising  lad,  the  last  of  his  family,  and  will  have  a 
large  fortune  at  maturity.  I  wish  to  make  him  a  useful 
man."    He  was  buried  in  the  family  lot  at  Mount  Airy. 

Eleanor  was  married  a  second  time  to  Dr.  David 
Stuart,  of  Virginia,  and  went  to  this  sister  state  of 
Maryland  to  live,  thus  passing  from  our  scene. 

Of  the  builder  of  Mount  Airy  we  do  not  know  very 

185 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

much.  At  his  death  he  was  described  in  the  following 
terms  in  the  Maryland  Journal  and  Advertiser,  January 
15,  1788:  "  A  gentleman  whose  Benevolence  of  Heart 
and  many  other  exalted  Virtues  justly  endeared  him  to 
his  Relations  and  a  numerous  and  respectable  Acquaint- 
ance, who  have  sustained  an  irreparable  loss  by  his 
deatt" 

There  is  mystery  concerning  a  great  part  of  Benedict 
Calvert's  life.  That  he  was  a  son  of  Charles  Calvert, 
fifth  Lord  Baltimore,  is  well  known,  but  who  his  mother 
was,  or  where  he  was  born,  has  never  been  recorded.  As 
a  young  man  he  was  sent  to  Annapolis  to  the  home  of 
Dr.  George  Steuart,  of  that  city,  with  a  tutor,  Onorio 
Razolini.  We  find  him  addressed  by  his  father  in  the 
following  fashion  in  a  letter,  dated  February  7,  1745: 

Deak  Child  : 

You  will  by  this  Opportunity  receive  Duplicates  of  a  Com- 
mission with  the  proper  Instructions  from  ye  proper  Offices 
Appointing  you  Collector  of  Patuxent  in  ye  Room  of  Rousby, 
deceased,  and  I  make  no  doubt  but  you  will  do  Your  Utmost  to 
Execute  it  to  the  Utmost  of  your  Power,  and  I  must  desire  you 
wUl  get  ye  most  able  to  Aid  and  Assist  you,  and  I  hope  you  will 
Endeavor  to  .get  Mr.  Jennings  to  help  you  and  that  You'll  give 
him  such  Encouragement  as  may  make  it  worth  his  while. 

I  desire  you  will  Consult  with  Mr.  Bladen  and  Mr.  Tasker. 
I  shall  Omit  no  Opportunity  of  doing  all  in  my  Power  to  show 
how  much  I  am 

Your  Affectionate 

Father, 

Baltimoke. 
186 


MOUNT  AIRY 


Somewhat  later  we  find  that  His  Lordship  writes : 

"  Pray  do  not  think  of  Marrying  till  you  hear  from  me  hav- 
ing some  things  to  Propose  to  you,  much  for  your  Advantage, 
and  believe  me  I  will  never  force  Your  IncHnation,  Only  Propose 
what  I  think  will  make  you  most  Happy,  Afterwards  Leave  it 
to  Your  own  Determination." 

That  a  wife  was  chosen  to  suit  the  lordly,  far-away 
parent,  is  shown  by  a  letter  from  him  in  1748  to  Razol- 
ini,  the  tutor,  expressing  approval  of  his  son's  intended 
venture  upon  matrimony.  About  the  same  time  he 
wrote  to  the  young  man  himself,  telling  him  to  take  in 
charge  certain  lands  on  the  Patuxent  which  he  designed 
for  him.  On  April  21  of  that  year,  Benedict  was 
married  to  Elizabeth  Calvert,  his  distant  cousin, 
daughter  of  Charles  Calvert,  Governor  of  Maryland 
from  1720  to  1727.  The  ceremony  was  performed  by 
the  Reverend  John  Gordon,  rector  of  St.  Anne's  Parisli, 
Annapolis,  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Onorio  Razolini,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Razolini  and  Miss  Ariana  Brice,  and  is  thus 
recorded  in  the  Maryland  Gazette  for  April  27,  1748: 
"  Last  Thursday  the  Honourable  Benedict  Calvert, 
Esq.,  Collector  of  His  Majesty's  customs  for  Patuxent 
District,  etc.,  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Calvert, 
only  surviving  Daughter  of  the  late  Honourable  Charles 
Calvert,  Esq.,  deceased,  former  Governor  of  this 
province." 

Before  his  marriage,  young  Calvert  had  entered 
upon  his  duties  as  collector  of  the  Port  of  Patuxent  and 

187 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

had  taken  up  his  residence  upon  the  lands  on  that  river 
given  to  him  by  his  father.  It  was  not  until  three  years 
after  his  marriage  that  he  acquired  full  title  to  the 
Mount  Airy  property,  and  then  it  was  by  transfer 
through  an  intermediary,  Ignatius  Digges,  Esq.,  as  is 
witnessed  by  the  following  deed,  one  of  the  records  of 
the  Provincial  Court  for  the  Western  Shore,  in  the  Land 
Record  office  at  Annapolis: 

This  indenture  made  the  third  day  of  June,  1761,  between 
Ignatius  Digges,  of  Prince  George's  County,  in  the  Province 
of  Maryland,  Gentleman,  of  the  one  part  and  Benedict  Calvert 
of  the  City  of  Annapolis  and  Province  aforesaid  of  the  other 
part.  Whereas,  by  indentures  of  lease  and  release  bearing  date 
respectively  on  or  about  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  days 
of  February,  1745,  made  between  Samuel  Hyde,  late  of  London, 
Merchant  by  the  name  of  Samuel  Hyde  of  Rood  Lane,  London, 
Merchant,  of  the  one  part  and  Charles,  Lord  Baltimore,  of  the 
other  part,  he  the  said  Samuel  Hyde  did  grant  and  confirm  unto 
him  the  said  Charles,  Lord  Baltimore,  all  that  Plantation  called 
"  His  Lordship's  Kindness "  containing  by  estimation  Six 
Thousand,  Seven  Hundred  acres  of  land,  and  also  all  that  other 
Plantation  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  the  several  tracts 
containing  by  Estimation,  Two  thousand  Five  hundred  Acres, — 
unto  the  said  Charles,  Lord  Baltimore,  his  heirs  and  assigns, 
forever.  And  whereas,  the  aforesaid  two  tracts  of  land  were 
on  t}ie  twenty-ninth  day  of  June,  1750,  by  the  direction  of  the 
said  Charles,  Lord  Baltimore,  sett  up  to  Publick  Vendue  by 
Auction  at  which  sale  the  said  Ignatius  Digges  was  the  highest 
bidder  at  Seven  Hundred  and  Sixty  Pounds,  Sterling,  for  the 
first  mentioned  tract  and  at  Seven  Hundred  and  Ten  Pounds, 
SterUng,  for  the  last  mentioned  tract.  Now  this  indenture 
Witnesseth  that  the  said  Ignatius  Digges  in  consideration  of  One 

188 


8.) 


-2 


MOUNT  AIRY 


Thousand,  Four  Hundred  and  Seventy  Pounds  (being  the  total 
of  the  aforesaid  sums  of  money)  Doth  grant  and  confirm  unto 
the  said  Benedict  Calvert  all  those  above-mentioned  Plantations, 
all  which  premises  are  in  Prince  George's  County  on  a  River 
called  Patuxen,  in  the  Proprietary  of  Maryland,  on  the  continent 
of  America,  and  are  part  of  certain  Land  and  Premises  released 
and  conveyed  by  Henry  Damall,  late  of  Prince  George's  County 
in  Maryland  aforesaid,  to  John  Hyde,  deceased,  the  father  of  a 
certain  Samuel  Hyde,  late  of  London,  Merchant,  deceased,  to- 
gether with  all  Messuages  etc.,  unto  him  the  said  Benedict 
Calvert,  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever. 

In  witness  whereof  the  partys  to  these  presents  have  hereunto 
interchangeably  set  their  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year 
firest  above  written. 

Signed  and  sealed  in  the  presence  of  Chas.  Hammond  and 
Sam.   Chamberlaine. 

In  1751,  Benedict  Calvert  commenced  to  build 
Mount  Airy  and  completed  it  without  interruption. 
Here  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1788.  He  was  buried 
under  the  chancel  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  Croome, 
Prince  George's  County,  which  he  had  helped  to  found 
and  support.  Ten  years  later  he  was  followed  to  the 
grave  by  his  wife.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution, 
he  had  given  up  his  post  of  Collector  of  Customs  of 
Patuxent,  and  his  latter  years  were  years  of  leisure. 

At  the  death  of  its  builder,  Mount  Airy  was  left  to 
his  wife,  on  her  death  to  go  to  the  oldest  living  son, 
Edward  Henry,  born  November  7,  1766,  married 
March  1, 1796,  and  died  July  12, 1846.  Edward  Henry 
(Calvert)  left  the  estate  to  his  widow,  who  died  March 

180 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

26,  1857,  and  by  her  wiU  the  property,  now  shrunk  to 
about  a  thousand  acres,  was  to  be  divided  among  her 
children.  Two  of  these  children,  however,  Cecilius 
Baltimore  and  Eleanora  Adela,  bought  out  the  interest 
of  all  of  the  other  children,  and  made  it  their  home  until 
they  died;  the  former,  March  13,  1901,  and  the  latter, 
July  15,  1902,  aged  ninety-five  and  eighty-one  years, 
respectively.  These  were  the  last  Calvert  owners.  After 
the  death  of  "  old  Miss  Eleanor  "  the  home  and  furnish- 
ings were  sold  at  auction,  the  house  being  purchased 
February,  1903,  by  Mrs.  Tillie  R.  Duvall,  its  present 
occupant.  The  property  was  described  in  the  auction- 
eer's catalogue  in  the  following  terms: 

This  beautiful  old  place  now  contains  about  eight  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  fine  grazing,  or  farming  land,  well  watered 
by  natural  springs,  having  a  beautiful  lake  containing  about 
ten  acres,  well  stocked  with  fish.  About  two  hundred  acres  of  the 
land  is  covered  with  a  natural  growth  of  old  oaks  and  other 
choice  varieties  of  native  trees. 

Death  in  a  tragic  shape  was  the  portion  of  the  last 
of  the  Calverts  of  Mount  Airy.  Miss  Eleanor  Calvert 
was  accustomed  to  use  an  old-fashioned  oil  lamp,  which 
her  relatives  warned  her  was  not  safe.  One  night  it 
turned  over  in  her  hand  as  she  was  descending  the  steps, 
spilled  oil  over  her  clothing  and  set  it  ablaze.  The  old 
lady  died  from  the  injuries.  She  was  beloved  and  re- 
spected by  her  neighbours,  and  was  very  fond  of  chil- 
dren.   During  her  later  years  she  kept  the  old  house  full 

190 


MOUNT  AIRY 


of  little  ones — her  nieces,  nephews,  great-nieces,  great- 
nephews  and  little  cousins,  even  to  the  third  and  fourth 
generation. 

Six  years  after  the  marriage  of  Eleanor  Calvert 
to  George  Parke  Custis,  another  brilliant  wedding  took 
place  in  the  little  parlour  of  Mount  Airy.  It  was  that 
of  Elizabeth,  a  younger  daughter,  who  was  wed,  June 
15,  1780,  to  Dr.  Charles  Steuart,  of  Annapolis,  son 
of  that  Dr.  George  Steuart  in  whose  home  Benedict 
Calvert  lived.  In  Mount  Airy,  too,  was  celebrated 
Eleanor's  second  marriage. 

The  children  of  Benedict  Calvert,  the  founder,  and 
his  wife  Elizabeth,  were:  Rebecca,  who  died  in  infancy; 
Eleanor,  who  married  first,  February  3,  1774,  George 
Parke  Custis,  stepson  of  George  Washington,  second, 
1783,  Dr.  David  Stuart,  of  Virginia;  Charles,  who  re- 
mained unmarried;  Elizabeth,  who  married,  June  15, 
1780,  Dr.  Charles  Steuart,  of  Annapolis,  Maryland; 
Edward  Henry,  who  married,  March  1,  1796,  Elizabeth 
Biscoe,  daughter  of  George  and  Araminta  Carroll 
Biscoe;  George,  who  married,  June  11,  1799,  Rosalie 
Eugenia  Stier,  daughter  of  Henri  Joseph  and  Marie 
Louise  Stier,  of  Antwerp,  Belgium;  Philip,  Leonard, 
Cecilius,  Robert,  John,  William,  and  Ariana.  Of  this 
last  seven,  the  first  four  died  in  youth;  the  last  three 
did  not  marry. 

The  tragedy  of  Ariana  Calvert's  life  is  one  of  the 
most  pathetic  stories  connected  with  the  historic  old 

191 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

mansion.  She  loved  a  young  man  who  had  been  re- 
ceived at  her  father's  house,  but  was  not  looked  upon 
with  favour  as  the  daughter's  prospective  husband. 
Trusting  to  time  to  soften  her  father's  heart,  she  waited 
patiently,  and  the  father,  on  his  part,  tried  by  every 
indulgence  to  turn  the  thoughts  of  his  daughter  from  her 
lover.  She  was  sent  to  Annapolis  for  a  visit  and  in  the 
company  of  her  brilliant  sisters  to  every  fete  in  town 
and  country.  Many  suitors  pressed  their  claims  for  her 
hand  but  for  all  she  had  a  gentle  refusal.  She  began  to 
fade  and  droop  and  her  health  broke  down.  Her  father 
died  and  her  mother,  seeing  that  her  child  was  facing 
death,  gave  her  consent  to  the  engagement.  But  it  was 
too  late.  The  fine  spirit  had  been  tried  too  long,  and 
death  bore  it  away. 

The  issue  of  George  Parke  Custis  and  Eleanor  Cal- 
vert (the  first  wedding  in  the  Calvert  house)  was:  Eliza 
Parke,  born  August  21,  1776,  married,  March  20,  1796, 
to  Thomas  Law,  secretary  to  Warren  Hastings  in  India, 
and  has  descendants — Martha,  born  December  31, 1777, 
who  married,  January  6,  1795,  Thomas  Peter  a  wealthy 
merchant  of  Georgetown,  D.  C,  and  has  descendants, 
many  of  them  in  Washington;  Eleanor  Parke,  born 
March  21, 1779,  who  married,  February  22, 1799,  Major 
Lawrence  Lewis,  and  has  descendants;  George  Wash- 
ington Parke,  born  April  30,  1781,  who  married  Mary 
Fitzhugh,  of  Arlington,  Virginia,  whose  daughter,  JNIary 
Randolph  Custis  Parke,  born  October  1,  1806,  married, 

192 


MOUNT  AIRY 


June  30,  1831,  Robert  E.  Lee,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  armies  of  the  Confederacy. 

By  her  marriage  to  Dr.  Stuart,  Eleanor  had  seven 
children,  four  of  whom  married,  leaving  a  large  descent. 

George  Calvert,  the  only  other  son  of  Benedict  to 
have  issue,  built,  in  1802,  another  beautiful  homestead  at 
River  dale,  Maryland,  about  sixteen  miles  north  of 
Croome,  more  magnificent  in  size  and  decoration  than 
Mount  Airy;  and  this  place,  which  is  more  accessible 
by  rail  to  visitors  than  the  older  homestead,  is  often  mis- 
taken for  that  other  dwelling  house.  His  children  were: 
Caroline  Maria,  born  July  15,  1800,  who  married 
Thomas  Willing  Morris,  of  Philadelphia;  George 
Henry,  born  January  2,  1803,  who  married.  May,  1821, 
Elizabeth  Steuart,  and  died  without  issue.  May  24, 1889 ; 
Marie  Louise  Calvert;  Rosalie  Eugenia,  born  October 
19,  1806,  who  married  Charles  Henry  Corter;  Charles 
Benedict,  born  August  23,  1808,  who  married  Charlotte 
Augusta  Norris;  Henry  Albert;  Marie  Louise,  Julie, 
born  January  31, 1814,  who  married  Dr.  Richard  Henry 
Stuart;  Amelia  Isabelle.  The  homestead  at  Riverdale 
remained  in  the  family  until  December  5,  1904,  when  it, 
too,  was  sold  at  auction,  the  purchaser  being  its  present 
occupant,  W.  T.  Pickford,  a  prominent  business  man  of 
Washington. 

The  children  of  Edward  Henry  Calvert  and  Eliza- 
beth Biscoe,  his  wife,  forming  the  last  generation  of 
Calverts  at  Mount  Airy,  were:  Benedict;  George,  who 

13  193 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

married  Sarah  E.  Hungerford;  Edward  Henry,  who 
married  Mary  Powell;  Charles  Frederick;  Washington 
Custis,  who  married,  first,  Sophia  O.  MuUiken,  second, 
Elizabeth  S.  Randolph;  Cecelius  Baltimore;  John,  who 
married  Julia  Stockton  Rush;  Elizabeth;  William  B., 
who  married  Mary  Harriet  Hughes;  Araminta; 
Octavius  Augustus;  Juliana;  Eleanora  Adela.  John 
Calvert  had  two  children:  John  Calvert,  of  Philadelphia, 
whose  son  is  Cecelius  Baltimore  Calvert,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Madison  Rush  Calvert.  Roberta  Lee  Calvert,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  George,  married  T.  C.  Judkins, 
and  lives  in  San  Francisco.  She  has  a  son,  Robert  Cal- 
vert Judkins. 

Interesting  recollections  of  Mount  Airy  have  been 
written  by  Mrs.  Eleanora  Calvert  Wilson,  daughter  of 
William  Calvert,  and  who  spent  her  childhood  at  the  old 
place. 

My  father,  William,  the  youngest  of  these  nine  sons,  was 
the  first  to  bring  his  young  bride,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  day,  to  this  old  house,  and  here  my  sister  and  I  were  bom, 
and  still  another  generation  of  little  girls  chased  the  butterflies 
fromi  flower  to  flower,  hunted  the  birds  in  their  nests,  and  the 
woods  sent  back  the  echoes  of  merry  prattle  and  joyous  song 
once  more.  We  were  not  so  decorous  and  well  disciplined,  I  fear, 
as  the  former  generations  of  little  people  had  been,  for  we  had 
so  many  indulgent  uncles  to  spoil  us. 

Hand  in  hand  they  would  walk  with  us  through  the  orchard 
every  morning  gathering  for  us  the  choicest  fruits,  such  delicious 
peaches,  grapes,  pears  and  great,  red-cheeked  apples ! 

How  well  I  remember  old  "  Aunt  Polly,"  the  octogenarian 

194 


MOUNT  AIRY 


negress  who  had  nursed  or  assisted  in  the  nursing  of  these  other 
little  girls,  often  reducing  us  to  order  by  saying: 

"  My  little  misses  never  did  so ;  they  were  little  ladies." 

"  So  are  we,  Aunt  Polly,"  we  would  indignantly  reply. 

"  Then  you  must  behave  like  them,"  was  always  Aunt  Polly's 
strong  argument.  She  was  at  that  time  too  old  for  actual 
service,  so  with  a  silk  cloth  in  her  hand  she  passed  from  room 
to  room  removing  any  dust  that  had  settled  upon  the  handsome 
mahogany  furniture.  Occasionally,  Aunt  Polly  would  doze  and 
mechanically  rub  one  spot  for  a  long  time.  Coming  upon  her 
sometimes  at  these  moments  we  would  mischievously  startle  her 
by  asking,  "  Why,  Aunt  Polly,  what  are  you  doing?  "  Recover- 
ing her  consciousness  quickly  she  would  put  additional  force  into 
her  labour  and  answer  with  great  placidity,  "  Just  a  little  fine 
polishing,  Honey." 

Sometimes  we  would  quietly  slip  the  cloth  from  her  hand 
and  conceal  it  before  awakening  her  and  enjoy  her  look  of  amaze- 
ment when  she  couldn't  find  it.  "  Oh,  Aunt  Polly,  you  were 
asleep  that  time,"  we  would  say.  "  Well,  Honey,  I  do  think 
I  must  have  been,"  she  would  reply  with  one  of  her  placid 
smiles. 

My  grandmother  would  have  liked  to  have  her  remain  in  her 
quarters,  and  would  have  cared  for  her,  but  poor  old  Aunt  Polly 
was  so  afraid  of  being  considered  "  old  and  worthless  "  that  she 
would  not  consent  to  it. 

Old  Neale,  too,  the  coachman,  could  not  tolerate  the  idea  of 
having  to  give  place  to  a  younger  man.  "  Why,  I  'members  the 
day  when  that  boy  was  bom,"  he  said  indignantly.  Grand- 
father tried  to  comfort  him  by  telling  him  that  the  new  coachman 
would  never  be  quite  so  fine  as  he  had  been.  At  this  the  old  man 
straightened  himself  up  in  spite  of  his  bent  shoulders  and  a 
smile  passed  over  his  face  as  he  said,  "  Well,  Massa,  there  is 
sumpin'  in  dat." 

By  her  marriage  to  Charles  Steuart,  Elizabeth  Cal- 

195 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

vert,  daughter  of  Benedict,  had  issue:  George  Calvert; 
Benedict;  Edward  Henry,  who  married  Mary  Wilcox; 
and  Dr.  Charles  (Steuart)  who  married  Ann  Fitzhugh 
Biscoe,  and  a  descendant  of  whom  in  Baltimore  is  Mr. 
Richard  D.  Steuart. 

Perhaps  it  is  the  ghosts  of  the  ancients  whom  we  have 
considered  that  trouble  Mount  Airy  to-day,  for  ghosts 
there  are,  the  present  owner  will  tell  you.  There  is  the 
time  when  with  her  husband  Mrs.  Duvall  drove  back 
from  Washingtpn,  one  dark  night,  and  found  a  solitary 
horseman  in  the  garb  of  a  hundred  years  ago  calmly 
sitting  his  horse  in  front  of  the  door,  at  the  end  of  the 
long  aisle  of  trees.  By  the  dim  light  of  the  stars  they 
saw  him  inspecting  them  with  a  gaze,  as  if  to  say  "  What 
do  you  here? "  and  then  he  vanished.  Again  Mrs. 
Duvall  has  been  awakened  in  the  night  by  a  ghostly 
woman's  figure,  which  one  midnight  put  its  cold  hands 
around  her  throat.  There  is  a  room  above  the  dining- 
room  in  which  no  lamp  will  burn,  the  strongest,  most  in- 
geniously constructed  lamp  going  out  meekly  the 
moment  you  cross  the  threshold  with  it.  Doors  open  and 
shut  without  cause.  Beds  sag  and  creak  with  no  human 
being  on  them. 

Many  of  the  colonial  mansions  of  Maryland  are 
larger  than  Mount  Airy,  many  of  them  have  more 
elaborate  ornamentation,  for  this  place  has  neither  size 
nor  elaboration  to  commend  it,  yet  few  have  its  charm. 
Its  chief  feature  is  a  wing,  considerably  older  than  the 

196 


a 


FIREPLACE  IN  DINING-ROOM 


THE  SIDEBOARD 
IMPRESSIONS  OF  MOUNT  AIRY 


MOUNT  AIRY 


body  of  the  house — used  as  a  hunting  lodge  by  one  of  the 
early  Lords  Baltimore,  tradition  tells  us — a  long,  low 
structure  with  dormer  windows  and  a  hip-roof,  made  of 
immense  old  English  brick  laid  all  with  the  ends  out, 
the  walls  being  nearly  two  feet  thick.  From  the  centre 
rear  of  this  the  main  part  of  the  house  takes  its  de- 
parture. This  main  portion  is  simply  a  two-story  edifice 
with  two  large  pillars  in  front  which  support  a  gallery. 
It  contains  merely  a  hall,  staircase  and  two  rooms  at  the 
end  opposite  the  wing.  A  cellar  runs  beneath  the  main 
building  connecting  with  the  more  ancient  cellar  beneath 
the  old  hunting  lodge  or  wing.  In  the  former  is  a  wine 
vault  with  high,  arched  ceiling ;  in  the  latter,  an  entrance 
to  a  secret  passageway,  which  has  not  been  explored  in 
the  memory  of  man.  This  passageway  leads  through 
the  old  foundation  walls,  five  feet  thick,  to  a  point  of 
exit,  it  is  believed,  near  the  old  bowling  green.  The 
main  body  of  the  house  is  of  brick  covered  with  plaster ; 
the  wing  is  of  brick  exposed. 

The  approach  to  the  old  mansion  is  one  of  its  greatest 
charms.  The  road  leads  straight  from  the  gate  about 
two  hundred  yards  through  an  avenue  of  overarching 
old  linden  trees  to  a  circle  of  box,  immediately  in  front 
of  the  more  modern  portion  of  the  house.  To  the  right, 
lies  a  garden  designed  by  Major  L'Enfant,  the  designer 
of  the  plan  for  the  city  of  Washington.  Just  a  few  steps 
from  here,  on  a  terrace  overlooked  by,  and  fronting  on, 
the  wing  of  the  house,  is  the  old  bowling  green,  now 

107 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

a  tennis  court.  There  is  more  terracing  in  other  parts  of 
the  grounds,  and  Major  L'Ehf ant's  garden  containing 
many  rare  shrubs  and  flowers,  is  even  to-day  a  very 
beautiful  retreat. 

When  Mount  Airy  was  sold  in  1903,  the  many 
treasures  which  it  contained  were  sold  at  an  auction  room 
in  Washington.  Among  other  things  disposed  of  were 
a  portrait  supposed  to  be  by  Van  Dyke,  of  Charles,  fifth 
Lord  Baltimore,  in  armour ;  a  portrait  of  Benedict  Leon- 
ard Calvert,  fourth  Lord  Baltimore,  who  married  Lady 
Charlotte  Lee,  granddaughter  of  King  Charles  II;  a 
portrait  of  Benedict  Calvert ;  a  portrait  of  Eleanor  Cal- 
vert in  riding  habit:  other  paintings;  a  set  of  silver, 
consisting  of  one  coffee  pot,  two  mugs,  a  set  of  casters 
and  two  small  waiters,  all  bearing  coat-of-arms  and  crest, 
and  sent  to  Benedict  by  his  father  as  a  wedding  present ; 
and  many  other  things  of  smaller  value. 

The  present  owner  of  Mount  Airy,  Mrs.  Tillie  R. 
Duvall,  is  an  artist  and  musician  by  training,  and  is 
known  to  many  in  these  arts.  She  was  married  in  1908, 
about  five  years  after  she  had  moved  into  the  place,  to 
Percy  M.  Duvall,  of  Croome,  Prince  George's  County. 
One  child,  a  girl,  has  blessed  this  union.  The  Duvalls 
have  open  house,  and  many  friends  from  nearby  Wash- 
ington keep  them  from  getting  lonesome  with  the  ghosts 
and  solitudes  of  the  old  home. 


BELAIR 

PRINCE  GEORGE'S  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

OGLE— BOWIE— WOODWARD 


'HE  most  magnificently  main- 
tained survival  of  the  Georgian 
era  of  building  in  Maryland  is 
unquestionably  Belair,  the  old 
Ogle  estate,  now  the  occasional 
home  of  William  Woodward, 
Esq.,  of  New  York  City.  Its 
present  owner  spares  no  pains  to  preserve  the  flavour  of 
the  olden  time  which  clings  around  the  beautiful  struc- 
ture and,  at  the  same  time,  has  so  added  to  the  building 
and  grounds  that  the  place  is  one  of  the  most  splendid 
in  Maryland.  It  is  situated  in  Prince  George's  County, 
not  far  from  Bowie  Station,  a  point  on  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad. 

The  house  is  situated  on  the  crest  of  a  hill,  as  were 
most  of  the  mansions  of  the  colonial  period  in  Mary- 
land, and  commands  a  wide  view.  However  hot  and  still 
the  day  may  seem  in  the  countryside  around  there  is 
always  a  breeze  stirring  in  its  wide  halls.  As  it  stands 
to-day,  it  consists  of  a  central  building  with  wings,  but 
the  wings  are  a  latter  addition  by  its  present-day  owner, 
though  in  such  perfect  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the 
building  have  they  been  fashioned  that  one  needs  must 
be  told  this  fact  to  believe  it.  The  grounds  around  the 
house  are  terraced  and  from  the  main  doorway  extends 

199 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

a  mile-long  aisle  of  great  trees,  memorials  of  an  early 
day,  indeed. 

This  approach  to  the  front  of  the  house  Mr.  Wood- 
ward has  improved  by  an  extension  which  carries  it  for 
a  mile  or  more  farther  through  his  estate,  so  that  now 
one  drives  for  nearly  two  miles  from  the  entrance  to  the 
place  over  a  finely  ballasted  and  smoothly  topped  road- 
way before  one  at  last  swings  into  the  long,  straight 
stretch  between  mammoth  trees  which  leads  to  the  old 
mansion  itself. 

The  front  and  rear  doorways  of  the  house  are  simple 
but  graceful,  and  the  interior  woodwork,  while  not 
elaborate,  is  beautified  with  carving.  The  stairway  ex- 
tends to  the  left  from  the  front  door  and  leads  to  a 
cool  and  well-disposed  second  floor.  The  outlook  from 
the  rear  of  the  house  is  very  fine,  leading  the  eye  over 
the  old  bowling  green  and  the  green  terraces  which  lend 
dignity  to  this  side  of  the  house. 

Belair  belonged  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  to  Hon.  Benjamin  Tasker,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  important  men  in  the  then  Province  of  Maryland. 
His  daughter  Anne,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  married 
Governor  Samuel  Ogle,  a  captain  of  cavalry  in  His 
British  Majesty's  service,  who  had  received  from  the 
Lord  Proprietary  a  commission  as  Governor  of  Mary- 
land, dated  September  16,  1731.  Belair  was  given  to 
Governor  Ogle  and  his  bride  by  Benjamin  Tasker,  and 

200 


;vs 


BELAIR 

there  the  Ogles  lived  in  princely  style,  their  town  house 
at  Annapolis  claiming  their  presence  only  during  the 
social  season.  The  estate  then  consisted  of  3,600  acres. 
The  mansion  was  spacious  and  elaborate  for  those  days. 
It  is  said  that  six  hundred  acres  were  thrown  into  a  park, 
and  fallow  deer  were  seen  about  the  woodland.  Belair 
had  its  race  track,  its  kennels,  and  life  was  planned  in 
every  particular  on  the  basis  of  the  gentry  of  England. 
The  Ogles  lived  as  befitted  their  station,  and  drove  to 
and  from  Annapolis,  a  distance  of  about  twenty  miles, 
with  four-in-hand  and  liveried  outriders,  as  has  been 
noted  from  letters  still  in  existence.  Such  was  the  early 
condition  of  the  plantation,  and  it  must  have  remained 
much  the  same  during  the  next  century  as  is  evidenced 
by  the  condition  of  the  house  and  grounds,  and  especially 
the  long  avenue  of  tulip  trees  immediately  in  front  of 
the  house  which  constantly  added  to  the  beauty  and 
dignity  of  the  landscape.  Originally  there  must  have 
been  ninety-six  of  these  trees  planted  on  a  straight  ave- 
nue of  five  hundred  yards  leading  to  the  house,  in  four 
parallel  rows,  making  two  turf -covered  lanes  over  which 
the  rider  (and  a  very  occasional  vehicle)  would  ap- 
proach. There  are  thirty-two  of  these  now  giant  tulips 
remaining,  one  of  the  larger  ones  measuring  over  twenty 
feet  in  circumference,  and  with  a  height  of  more  than 
ninety  feet. 

A  part  of  Belair  in  the  late  seventies  fell  to  the 

201 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

ownership  of  Governor  Bowie,  of  Maryland,  and  finally 
to  his  sons,  and  some  partition  had  by  that  time  been 
made,  when  in  the  later  years  of  the  last  century  Mr. 
James  T.  Woodward,  of  New  York  and  Maryland, 
purchased  the  estate  and  added  to  and  improved  it,  as 
has  also  his  nephew,  William  Woodward,  who  inherited 
it  from  him  and  now  owns  it.  The  Woodwards  are 
from  Anne  Arundel  County,  but  James  T.  Woodward's 
mother  was  a  Magruder,  of  Prince  George's  County, 
and  a  substantial  portion  of  what  is  now  comprised  in 
Belair  is  old  Magruder  land. 

Belair  has  to-day  its  own  pack  of  hounds,  and 
thoroughbred  colts  are  seen  grazing  on  its  meadows. 

Among  the  many  distinguished  men  of  Maryland 
none  were  of  more  distinguished  lineage  than  Samuel 
Ogle,  builder  of  Belair.  The  family  was  of  old  Saxon 
stock.  This  member  of  it  received  from  the  Lord  Pro- 
prietary his  commission  as  governor  of  the  province  of 
Maryland  in  September,  1731,  and  took  oath  of  office 
in  Annapolis  in  December  of  that  same  year.  In  1741 
he  married  Anne  Tasker,  who  was  but  a  child  of  nine 
years  when  he  arrived  in  this  country.  Though  there 
was  this  great  disparity  of  age  between  Ogle  and  his 
wife,  the  marriage  was,  none  the  less,  a  happy  one.  Two 
of  Anne  Tasker's  sisters,  Elizabeth  and  Frances, 
married,  respectively,  Christopher  Lowndes,  forebear 
of  the  late  Governor  Lloyd  Lowndes,  of  Maryland,  and 

202 


;v.> 


40 


MAIN  STAIRWAY,  BELAIR 


BELAIR 

Robert  Carter,  of  Nominy  Hall,  Virginia.  Her 
maternal  uncle  was  that  Thomas  Bladen  who  was 
Governor  of  Maryland  from  1742  to  1747  and  of  whose 
daughter  Lord  Chesterfield  wrote  as  follows  in  a  letter 
to  his  son:  "  Our  friend,  Harriet  Bladen,  with  a  fortune 
of  20,000  Pounds,  is  to  be  married  to  the  Earl  of  Essex." 

Benjamin  Ogle,  son  of  Samuel  Ogle,  became 
Governor  of  Maryland  in  1809,  and  his  son  of  the  same 
name  was  the  last  Ogle  to  live  at  Belair. 

Belair  was  the  country  home  of  Samuel  Ogle  and 
his  Bladen  bride.  The  town  house  in  which  they  had 
their  entertainments  during  "  the  season  "  is  that  quaint 
little  old  structure  in  Annapolis  which  stands  at  the 
corner  of  College  Avenue  and  King  George  Street  and 
is  familiarly  known  in  the  ancient  city  as  the  Ogle 
House.  A  beautiful  box-bordered  walk  and  an  arched 
doorway  which  no  passerby  fails  to  admire  are  almost 
all  that  remain  of  its  one-time  glories,  yet  its  gardens 
were  once  very  beautiful  and  its  presence  is  always 
dignified  by  the  flavour  of  the  names  with  which  it  has 
been  associated.  Here,  moreover,  in  1840,  Governor 
Benjamin  Ogle,  son  of  Samuel,  died. 

So  great  a  lover  of  horses  was  Samuel  Ogle  that  he 
built  his  stables  in  Annapolis  beside  the  front  walk  of 
his  house,  so  that  he  might  always  stop  and  see  the 
animals  upon  which  he  lavished  so  much  affection  when- 
ever he  left  or  entered  his  home.    He  also  imported  from 

203 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

England  the  celebrated  horse,  "  Spark,"  a  gift  from 
Lord  Baltimore,  to  whom  the  horse  had  been  presented 
by  Prince  Frederick,  father  of  George  III,  of  England. 
This  stable  has  long  since  been  torn  down,  but  its  exist- 
ence will  probably  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  know 
the  traditions  of  Annapohs.  The  Ogle  House  is  now 
a  boarding-house  for  officers  of  the  navy  who  are 
stationed  at  the  Naval  Academy  hard  at  hand,  and  is 
part  of  the  estate  of  the  late  Rear- Admiral  Porter, 
U.  S.  N.,  retired. 


BLAKEFORD 

QUEEN  ANNE'S  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

DE  COURCY— BLAKE— WRIGHT— THOM 

LAKEFORD,  the  old  De  Cour- 
cy  homestead,  is  situated  on 
Queenstown  Creek,  an  estuary  of 
the  Chester  River,  Queen  Anne's 
County,  Maryland,  and  is  notable 
for  its  antiquity,  the  dignity  of  its 
interior  and  its  beautiful  gardens 
which  have  attracted  sightseers  from  sleepy  little 
Queenstown — across  Queenstown  Harbour  from  the 
old  mansion — for  many  generations. 

The  approach  to  the  house  is  by  a  finely  planned 
drive  which  leads  through  a  magnificent  stretch  of  wood- 
land trees.  This  forest  has  been  used  by  the  Maryland 
Forestry  Board  as  an  example  of  a  perfectly  tended 
woods.  One  passes  beyond  these  trees  and  comes  to 
another  ancient  grove.  Here  is  situated  Blakeford. 
Blakef ord  has  a  charming  outlook  over  the  waters  of 
the  Chester  River,  which  in  the  early  days  was  its  means 
of  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  house 
faces  the  river  which  runs  northwest  here,  and  is  one  of 
the  largest  homesteads  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Mary- 
land. It  consists  of  a  main  structure  and  a  wing.  The 
walls  are  of  masonry  covered  with  clap-boards,  and  the 
whole  construction  of  the  house  is  one  of  great 
substantiality. 

205 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

The  interior  of  the  mansion  is  very  delightful.  It 
is  divided  through  the  middle  by  a  hallway  which  con- 
nects with  another  haU  extending  to  the  side  of  the 
house,  which  has  no  wing,  so  even  on  the  hottest  day 
there  is  an  air  stirring  in  Blakeford  when  the  three 
outer  doors  are  open.  The  dining-room  is  heavily 
panelled  and  the  main  hall  contains  arches,  yet  the  whole 
character  of  the  interior  of  the  house  is  very  simple  and 
without  elaboration  of  detail. 

The  gardens  of  Blakeford  extend  upon  two  sides  of 
the  grounds  surrounding  the  house,  and  contain  many 
rare  shrubs  and  flowers,  making  the  place  at  all  seasons 
a  veritable  bower  of  delight.  They  contain,  in  addition, 
an  all-the-year-round  summer-house,  a  very  ingenious 
sort  of  erection  which  is  unique  in  Maryland,  and 
probably  in  the  rest  of  the  United  States  as  weU.  It 
consists  simply  of  two  intersecting  brick  walls  set  at 
right  angles  to  each  other,  so  that  no  matter  at  what 
position  of  the  sky  the  sun  may  be  in,  no  matter  what 
hour  of  the  day,  there  is  always  a  side  of  the  summer- 
house  which  is  in  shade.  The  brick  walls  of  which  it  is 
constructed  have  had  vines  trained  over  them  and  have 
comfortable  benches  built  into  them  at  their  bases. 

The  De  Courcy  (or  Coursey)  family  has  been  identi- 
fied with  the  history  of  Maryland  since  the  very  earliest 
days  of  the  colony.  In  1654,  for  instance,  we  find  that 
one  "  Henry  Coursey,  Clark  "  examined  certain  papers 
concerning    William    Claiborne    who,    with    Richard 

206 


4i 


ALL  TIlF.-VEAK-HOrNI)  SIMMKU  HOLSE 


FROM  THE  EAST 
BLAKEFORD 


BLAKEFORD 


Bennett,  was  appointed  by  Parliament  in  1651  Com- 
missioner "  for  the  reducing  of  Virginia  and  Maryland 
to  their  due  obedience  to  the  Commonwealth  of  Eng- 
land." This  "  Henry  Coursey,  Clark  "  was  a  man  of 
great  prominence  in  the  province,  was  chief  judge  of 
Kent  County,  and  covered  himself  with  glory  on  the 
field  of  battle  and  in  the  councils  of  state.  In  his  trans- 
actions with  the  Five  Nations  at  a  congress  in  Albany, 
New  York — 1677 — his  conduct  was  so  creditable  as  to 
elicit  the  commendation  of  the  Governor  and  Assembly. 

Henry  Coursey  lived  at  "  My  Lord's  Gift,"  on  the 
opposite  side  of  Queenstown  Creek  from  Blakeford.  It 
is  said  that,  in  recognition  of  the  distinguished  services 
he  had  rendered  the  government,  particularly  in  con- 
nection with  a  treaty  he  had  recently  made  with  the 
Iroquois  Indians,  the  Governor  offered  him  as  much 
land  as  he  could  cover  with  his  thumb  on  the  map  of  the 
province  spread  before  him.  According  to  the  story, 
Col.  Henry  Coursey  placed  a  blunt  thumb  at  a  point 
on  Queenstown  Creek  and  rolled  it  over,  thus  describing 
an  imprint,  representing  some  sixteen  hundred  acres. 
Hence  the  name,  "  My  Lord's  Gift." 

These  two  homesteads  were  taken  up  at  practically 
the  same  time — more  than  two  and  a  half  centuries 
ago — My  Lord's  Gift,  as  we  have  seen,  by  Henry 
Coursey;  Blakeford  by  his  brother  William.  The  name 
of  the  original  patent  for  Blakeford  was  "  Coursey's 
Neck."    Major  William  Coursey,  the  patentee,  in  time 

207 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

sold  to  a  Mr.  Blake,  who  had  the  place  resurveyed  and 
added  thereto  two  tracts,  Long  Run  and  White  Banks. 
The  three  combined  were  known  as  "  Blake's  Fort,"  so 
called  from  the  old  fort  at  the  southwestern  end  of  the 
place  on  the  Chester  River.  This  name  in  time  became 
Blakef ord,  the  change  being  facilitated,  no  doubt,  by  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  ford  across  Queenstown  Creek,  or 
Coursey's  Creek  as  it  was  then  known,  used  as  a  means 
of  communication  between  the  two  Coursey  estates. 

The  old  place  remained  away  from  the  family  of  its 
founder  for  two  generations  until  through  the  marriage 
of  Mary  Tidmarsh  De  Courcy — grand-niece  of  Col. 
Henry  Coursey,  Major  William  Coursey,  patentee  of 
Coursey's  Neck,  and  granddaughter  of  Col.  Henry 
Coursey,  patentee  of  My  Lord's  Gift — to  Judge  Solo- 
mon Wright,  of  another  distinguished  Maryland  family, 
who  purchased  Blakeford  from  the  Blake  heirs,  it  came 
to  its  own  again. 

Judge  Wright  was  a  member  of  the  Maryland  Con- 
vention of  1771-1776;  member  of  the  Assembly,  1771- 
73-74;  member  of  the  Association  of  Freemen;  Judge 
of  the  Provincial  Court;  special  Judge  for  the  Eastern 
Shore  during  the  Revolution,  etc.,  etc.  He  was  ap- 
pointed judge  of  the  first  Court  of  Appeals  of  Mary- 
land, upon  the  formation  of  the  state,  and  served  in 
this  capacity  until  his  death  in  1792.  His  son  Robert, 
thirteenth  Governor  of  Maryland    (1806-1809)    and 

208 


BLAKEFORD 


twice  reelected,  was  bom  at  Blakeford,  November  20, 
1752. 

Robert  Wright  was  educated  at  the  public  schools, 
studied  law,  and,  having  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  prac- 
tised first  in  Chestertown  and  later  in  Queenstown, 
Maryland.  He  served  as  a  private  in  Capt.  James 
Kent's  company  of  "  Minute  Men  "  against  Lord  Drum- 
mond's  Tories  of  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  Febru- 
ary, 1776.  Later  he  was  a  captain  of  a  company  in  the 
Maryland  Line  and  fought  with  distinction  in  a  num- 
ber of  important  engagements,  notably  the  battle  of 
Brandywine.  In  1801,  he  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  but  resigned  from  that  august  body  in 
1806  when  elected  Governor  of  Maryland.  During  his 
first  term  much  excitement  was  occasioned  by  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Embargo  and  Enforcement  Acts;  he  pre- 
sided at  a  meeting  held  at  Annapolis  to  endorse  the 
administration.  At  this  meeting  were  passed  resolu- 
tions asking  President  Jefferson  to  reconsider  his  deter- 
mination to  decline  a  renomination.  Although  Mary- 
land's export  trade  had  been  grievously  crippled  by  the 
passage  of  the  Embargo  Act,  the  Governor  and  the 
Legislature  still  endorsed  the  administration. 

In  1810,  1812,  1814,  and  again  in  1820,  Robert 
Wright  was  elected  to  Congress.  In  1823  he  became 
District  Judge  of  the  circuit  comprising  Queen  Anne, 
Kent,  and  Talbot  counties.  He  lived  at  Blakeford 
wdth  his  wife,  who  was  Sarah  De  Courcy,  of  Cheston- 

14  209 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

on- Wye,  and  there,  on  September  7,  1826,  he  died.  His 
particular  hobby  was  the  breeding  and  training  of 
thoroughbred  race-horses,  turning  out  such  famous 
heroes  of  the  race-track  as  Blakeford,  Uncas,  Silver 
Heels.  There  was  a  fine  race-track  on  the  place  which  is 
still  to  be  seen,  and  where  lovers  of  the  "  sport  of  kings  " 
were  wont  to  gather.  Judge  Wright — or  Captain,  or 
Senator,  or  Governor,  for  he  was  rich  in  titles  as  in 
worldly  goods — ^also  did  much  to  encourage  farming 
interests  and  frequently  served  in  the  capacity  of  dele- 
gate to  farmers'  conventions.  He  was  a  trustee  of 
the  Board  of  Agriculture  for  the  Eastern  Shore  of 
Maryland. 

Robert  Wright  married  his  distant  cousin,  Sarah 
De  Courcy,  of  Cheston-on-Wye,  and  became  the  father 
of  William  Henry  De  Courcy,  a  distinguished  public 
man  of  Maryland,  and  grandfather  of  the  present  owner 
of  Blakeford,  De  Courcy  Wright  Thom,  of  Baltimore 
and  Queen  Anne's  County. 

The  De  Courcys,  although  originally  French,  came 
to  this  country  from  Ireland.  In  the  early  records  of 
the  Colony,  as  has  been  noted,  the  name  was  spelled 
Coursey,  but  Capt.  Edwin  Coursey  in  his  will  instructed 
his  sons  to  resume  the  original  spelling,  De  Courcy,  and 
this  precept  has  been  followed  by  all  succeeding  genera- 
tions of  the  house. 


BLOOMINGDALE 

QUEEN  ANNES  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 
HARRIS— WALLIS— DUDLEY 


HE  most  magnificent  colonial 
homestead  in  Queen  Anne's 
County,  Maryland,  from  an  ar- 
chitectural point  of  view,  is 
Bloomingdale,  about  three  miles 
from  historic  Queenstown,  one 
of  the  first  points  of  settlement 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  Of  late 
years  the  old  place  has  been  allowed  to  fall  into  a  sad 
condition  of  disrepair  in  the  hands  of  tenant  farmers, 
but  enough  is  left  to  show  its  state  when  it  was  new. 

The  house  is  situated  on  the  crest  of  a  hill  which 
overlooks  the  low,  rolling  country  round  about.  In  the 
distance  are  to  be  seen  the  blue  waters  of  a  little  estuary 
of  the  bay.  Great,  ragged  trees  and  an  unkempt  green- 
sward are  the  immediate  environs.  The  approach 
is  through  a  mile-long  avenue  of  cedar  trees,  through 
whose  dark  tunnel  the  front  of  the  house  beckons  on. 
Originally,  great  hedges  of  cedars  extended  from  either 
side  of  the  house  like  green  pennons  half  a  mile  long, 
but  these  have  been  cut  down  for  telegraph  posts  in 
these  latter  days.  Even  the  park  around  the  house  has 
been  curtailed  in  area  to  make  room  for  the  planting  of 
more  corn  and  "  crops." 

211 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Bloomingdale  is  distinguished  for  the  excellence  of 
its  brickwork,  the  bricks  being  set  with  an  oyster-shell 
mortar  so  hard  that  a  cold  chisel  can  with  difficulty 
penetrate  it,  and  so  evenly  that  they  look  like  the  bricks 
ruled  on  paper  in  children's  toy-houses.  Over  the  main 
doorway,  in  the  middle  of  the  central  front  of  the  house, 
is  a  balcony.  At  the  east  side  of  the  house  is  a  small, 
square,  covered  porch  with  steps  on  two  sides.  The 
house  has  but  one  wing,  which  is  to  the  west. 

On  the  interior  is  a  very  beautiful,  broad  hallway 
which  extends  from  front  to  back,  ensuring  a  cool  house 
whenever  any  air  is  stirring.  The  stairway  leads  from 
the  rear  of  the  hall  and  extends  straight  from  the  first 
floor  to  the  attic  above  the  second.  Hardwood,  once 
polished  until  it  shone,  forms  the  floor  of  the  hall  which 
is  wainscoted  to  the  height  of  about  three  feet.  The 
fireplaces  in  parlour  and  dining-room  are  very  hand- 
somely carved  but  the  house  as  a  whole  does  not  contain 
much  interior  ornamentation. 

Concerning  the  early  history  of  Bloomingdale,  C. 
Phillips  Armstrong,  who  has  spent  much  time  in  look- 
ing into  the  subject,  has  written  as  follows: 

The  farm  bearing  the  name  of  Bloomingdale,  halfway  be- 
tween Wye  Mills  and  Queenstown  In  Queen  Anne's  County,  con- 
tains over  600  fertile  acres.  The  original  tract  contained  over 
1,000  acres  and  was  a  grant  to  the  old  Seth  family  from  Lord 
Baltimore  and  included  what  was  known  as  Harris'  Mill.  The 
whole  of  this  vast  acreage  remained  the  property  of  the  Seth 
family  of  Talbot  County  for  many  years  and  at  one  time  was 

212 


42 


BLOOMINGDALE 


known  as  Seth's  Mills.  In  the  early  records  of  the  State  of 
Maryland  and  those  of  Queen  Anne's  County  particularly,  fre- 
quent reference  is  made  to  Seth's  Mill,  and  the  description  there 
is  such  as  to  correspond  unmistakably  with  what  afterward 
came  to  be  called  Bloomingdale.  Once  owned  by  the  late  Edward 
Harris,  Bloomingdale  was  inherited  from  him  in  1835  by  Misses 
Mary  D.  and  Sallie  Harris.  Upon  the  death  of  the  latter  in 
1874,  it  went  into  the  possession  of  Hon.  S.  Teackle  Wallis, 
of  Baltimore.  In  1889  it  was  purchased  by  Hiram  G.  Dudley 
from  John  Mather  Wallis,  heir  of  S.  Teackle  Wallis. 

The  main  structure  was  built  in  1792,  but  the  wing 
is  much  older,  though  it  is  not  possible  to  set  an  exact 
date  to  its  erection.  Not  far  from  the  house  is  the  slave 
quarter,  a  long,  bare  brick  building  which  accommodated 
sixteen  negro  families,  one  family  to  each  of  the  sixteen 
narrow  windows. 

The  most  brilliant  part  of  Bloomingdale's  life  was 
that  spent  during  the  years  when  the  Misses  Harris  were 
mistresses  of  it.  Miss  Sallie  Harris,  the  elder  sister, 
was  a  notable  figure  in  the  fashionable  world  of  Balti- 
more, where  the  sisters  as  young  ladies  spent  most  of 
their  winters,  and  when  she  retired  to  Bloomingdale 
after  youth  had  passed  she  carried  with  her  a  devoted 
court  of  admirers.  Miss  Mary  D.  Harris  was  of  shyer 
temperament  than  her  sister  and  did  not  so  greatly  en- 
joy the  social  successes  which  filled  her  sister's  life. 
They  entertained  generously  and  caused  the  old  house 
to  be  filled  with  a  gay  and  pleasant  circle  at  all  times. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  the  Misses  Harris  by  old 

213 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

residents  of  Queenstown.  As  you  drive  out  to  the 
house,  your  driver  will  tell  you  of  how  as  a  small  boy 
he  went  to  Bloomingdale,  was  taken  into  the  house  by 
Miss  Harris,  and  given  sweet  cakes.  There  are  many 
tales  of  kindnesses  done  by  these  two  spinster  ladies 
and  there  is  also  the  pathetic  recollection  of  how  broken 
Miss  Sallie  Harris  was  by  the  death  of  her  sister,  who 
left  her  alone  in  the  world  through  which  they  had 
voyaged  together  so  bravely. 

The  paintings  at  Bloomingdale  which  were  imported  from 
the  Old  World  in  the  stately  Colonial  days  attracted  great  atten- 
tion from  distinguished  visitors  and  guests  and  one  was  given 
additional  celebrity  by  being  the  subject  of  an  animated  con- 
troversy between  the  venerable  Bishop  Whittingham  and  a 
Catholic  prelate.  In  one  room,  a  little  winter  parlour,  and  a 
dreamer's  paradise,  were  hung  most  of  the  family  portraits,  and 
here  were  pictures  of  the  maiden  sisters,  made  in  the  heyday  of 
their  youth  and  dressed  alike  in  black  velvet  and  pearls,  but 
with  only  the  outline  of  family  resemblance  between  them.  The 
name  of  the  artist  is  not  known  but  he  gave  to  posterity  the  fair 
patrician  faces  of  two  of  the  rarest  beauties  of  the  day.  The 
one  looked  down  in  the  blue-eyed  serenity  of  a  household  divinity ; 
the  other  with  a  shade  of  deeper  thought  or  a  trace  of  hauteur. 

It  is  but  fitting  that  Bloomingdale  should  have  a 
ghost.  The  story  was  printed  in  one  of  Queen  Anne 
County's  newspapers  in  1879  and  told  by  an  eyewitness. 
One  night  Miss  Sally  Harris  and  a  guest,  Mrs.  Nancy 
De  Courcy,  had  retired,  when  a  rap  was  heard  at  the 
front  door.  Both  ladies  were  alarmed,  but  Mrs.  De 
Courcy  accompanied  the  servant  to  the  door  and  was 

214 


I 


4? 


SIDE  PORCH  AT  BLOO.MINGDALP: 


GAUDi:.N  EMJtA.NCi;  TO  THE  STEMMER  HOUSE 


BLOOMINGDALE 


confronted  by  the  apparition  of  William  Sterrett,  a 
deceased  nephew  of  Miss  Harris.  The  figure  moved 
down  the  hall,  beckoning  to  the  frightened  human 
beings  to  follow  it,  until  it  came  to  the  door  of  the 
room  in  which  it  had  been  accustomed  to  sleep  when  in 
the  flesh.  Then,  without  pausing,  it  went  through  the 
door.  When  the  terrified  onlookers  at  last  unlocked  the 
door  of  this  room,  which  had  been  kept  closed  for  some 
time,  nothing  was  to  be  found  inside,  yet  the  bed  looked 
rumpled  as  if  somebody  had  slept  in  it  and  just  left  it. 
Sterrett's  ghost  was  never  again  seen,  and  a  thorough 
search  of  the  house  on  the  night  of  his  one  visit  failed  to 
disclose  anything  that  would  give  a  reasonable  explana- 
tion of  the  strange  figure  which  the  frightened  women 
and  the  servant  had  seen. 

After  the  death  of  Miss  Sallie  Harris,  the  old  place 
was  preserved  in  the  style  in  which  she  had  kept  it  by 
her  nephew  and  heir,  Severn  Teackle  Wallis,  who  lived 
the  last  years  of  his  life  here.  A  man  of  large  means, 
Wallis  spent  most  of  his  years  in  Baltimore  where  he  is 
remembered  for  his  large  benefactions,  and  is  memori- 
alized by  a  statue  in  Mount  Vernon  Place,  the  most 
beautiful  section  of  that  city.  He  left  the  estate  at  his 
death  to  his  nephew,  John  Mather  Wallis,  from  whom  it 
was  purchased  in  1889  by  Mr.  Hiram  G.  Dudley,  of 
Baltimore  and  Queen  Anne's  County,  who  has  a  country 
home  at  Hemsley  Farm,  not  far  from  Bloomingdale. 


MONTMORENCI 

BALTIMORE  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

WORTHINGTON— CONRAD— LEHR 


EAR  the  hamlet  of  Glyndon, 
Baltimore  County,  Maryland,  in 
the  Worthington  Valley,  is  to  be 
found  the  old  Worthington  home- 
stead, Montmorenci,  built  about 
1760  by  Samuel  Worthington  who 
married  Mary  Tolley.  From 
these  two  a  long  line  with  many  branches  has  descended, 
and  from  this  generous  old  home  have  gone  forth  many 
sturdy  sons  who  have  played  conspicuous  parts  among 
their  fellows.  The  house  is  finely  situated  on  the  crest  of 
a  hill  in  the  centre  of  the  thousand  and  more  acres  which 
remain  to  it  of  the  vast  tracts  over  which  it  lorded  when 
it  was  young,  and  is  as  sound  and  weatherproof  to-day 
as  when  it  was  new. 

It  is  of  stone  and  plaster  construction,  the  walls  being 
very  thick  and  the  foundations  of  a  mass  sufficient  to 
support  a  battlemented  tower.  A  winding  road  leads 
from  the  entrance  of  the  grounds  to  the  front  of  the 
house,  and  from  the  rear  the  ground  falls  sharply  away 
to  the  Italian  garden  which  the  present  mistress  of  the 
old  home,  Mrs.  Mary  Conrad  Lehr,  of  Montmorenci 
and  Washington,  is  devising  at  the  foot  of  this  declivity. 
The  exterior  of  the  house  is  plain,  and  there  is  a  small 

216 


44 


45 


MONTMORENCI 


wing  at  the  north  end  which  contains  the  kitchen  and 
pantries. 

The  interior  arrangement  of  Montmorenci  is  like 
that  of  many  another  old  Maryland  home  in  that  it  has 
a  broad  hallway  from  front  to  back  of  the  house,  on 
which  as  an  axis  the  other  rooms  are  symmetrically  dis- 
posed. The  winding  staircase,  however,  with  its  slender 
mahogany  rail  and  its  slim,  patrician  mahogany  spokes, 
is  a  very  graceful  and  unusual  feature  and  is  perhaps  one 
of  the  mansion's  greatest  beauties. 

In  Montmorenci  may  be  found  a  great  quantity  of 
rare  old  furniture  which  (as  is  not  always  the  case)  has 
found  an  appreciative  mistress  in  the  daughter  of  the 
house  of  this  generation.  It  would  be,  perhaps,  without 
interest  to  mention  styles  and  periods  well  known  or  to 
attempt  in  any  way  a  description  of  the  furniture,  but 
in  each  room  of  the  house  are  to  be  found  pieces  to  inter- 
est the  lover  of  things  colonial,  and  so  great  a  quantity 
has  Mrs.  Lehr  that  she  is  able  to  furnish  her  new  home 
in  Washington  from  Montmorenci  without  seeming  to 
have  robbed  that  place. 

Not  far  from  Montmorenci  is  Bloomfield,  another 
old  Worthington  place  and  built  by  a  son  of  the  builder 
of  Montmorenci.  It  is  a  brick  homestead  and  is  dis- 
tinguished for  the  carving  which  graces  the  north  wall 
of  the  living  room  on  the  interior.  Though  long  a 
Worthington  possession,  it  has  been  for  a  number  of 
years  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  Councilmann. 

217 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

The  Worthington  family  has  already  received  a  brief 
summary  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  Belvoir,  the  beautiful 
mansion  on  the  Severn  in  Anne  Arundel  County,  Mary- 
land. The  tombstone  of  the  founder  of  the  family  in 
Maryland,  Capt.  John  Worthington,  is  to  be  found  in 
a  vacant  field  not  far  from  Annapolis  and  still  in  good 
preservation.  From  it  we  learn  that  Captain  John  died 
in  1701.  His  son,  John,  styled  "  Merchant "  in  his  will 
(in  which  he  disposes  of  a  great  fortune),  married 
Helen  Hammond,  daughter  of  Thomas  Hammond  and 
his  wife,  Mary  Heath,  and  had,  among  other  children, 
Samuel  Worthington,  who  married  Mary  ToUey, 
daughter  of  Walter  Tolley,  of  Joppa,  Baltimore 
County,  Maryland,  and  built  Montmorenci. 

From  Samuel  Worthington  the  homestead  descended 
through  Edward,  his  son,  to  John  Tolley  Worthington, 
first,  to  John  Tolley  Worthington,  second,  his  great- 
grandson,  who  married  Mary  Govane  Hood,  daughter 
of  James  Hood,  of  Hood's  Mill,  Baltimore  County, 
Maryland.  From  him  it  descended  to  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Sarah  Worthington  Conrad,  now  an  invalid,  whose 
daughter  (who  married  Louis  C.  Lehr,  Esq.)  is  the 
present  mistress  of  Montmorenci. 


BELVOIR 

ANNE  ARUNDEL  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 

ROSS— MAYNADIER— WORTHINGTON— POLUYANSKI 


N  Wyatt's  Ridge,  overlooking 
Round  Bay,  some  half  a  dozen 
miles  up  the  Severn  River  from 
the  "  Ancient  City,"  Annapolis, 
is  Belvoir,  one  of  the  most  pictu- 
resque colonial  homes  in  Mary- 
land. Belvoir  is  a  brick  building 
with  a  wide  hallway  and  large,  well-proportioned  rooms, 
and  was  built  by  John  Ross,  Register  of  the  Land 
Office  of  JMaryland  in  colonial  days.  This  John  Ross 
was  the  father  of  Anne  Arnold  Ross,  who  married 
Francis  Key,  son  of  Philip  Key,  of  St.  Mary's  County, 
and  became  in  due  course  the  great-grandfather  of  the 
immortal  Francis  Scott  Key,  author  of  our  stirring 
national  anthem,  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner."  Young 
Francis  Scott  Key,  who  lived  with  his  aunt  and 
guardian,  Mrs.  Upton  Scott,  formerly  Elizabeth  Ross, 
in  Annapolis,  and  was  educated  at  St.  John's  College 
(the  endowed  William  and  Mary  College  of  revolu- 
tionary times),  spent  many  pleasant  hours  at  Belvoir. 
From  the  original  owners  Belvoir  passed  to  Colonel 
JMaynadier,  of  Old  Windsor,  Baltimore  County,  but  it  is 
with  the  name  of  Worthington,  rather  than  Ross  or 
Maynadier,  that  Belvoir  is  identified.  Brice  John 
Worthington,  great-grandson  of  the  famous   Captain 

219 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

John  who  established  the  Worthingtons  in  ^laryland, 
purchased  Belvoir  in  the  year  1760,  from  Colonel  May- 
nadier,  thereby  extending  his  Summer  Hill  estate  from 
Eagle's  Nest  Bay  to  South  River,  a  distance  of  seven 
miles.  The  purchase  price  was  $25,000,  but  that  it  was 
an  excellent  investment  is  evidenced  from  the  fact  that 
its  new  owner  realized  half  that  sum  in  the  first  year  from 
tobacco  alone. 

Brice  John  Worthington  was  an  enthusiastic  fol- 
lower of  the  hounds,  like  many  another  of  the  landed 
gentry  of  the  day,  and  it  was  while  on  a  fox-hunting 
expedition  as  a  guest  of  Colonel  Maynadier  that  he  met 
Anne  Lee  Fitzhugh,  whom  he  subsequently  married. 
He  was  a  son  of  Nicholas  Worthington,  son  of  Thomas, 
son  of  Captain  John  and  was  fourth  in  line  of  descent 
to  serve  with  distinction  in  the  legislative  halls  at  An- 
napolis. He  was  an  ardent  Federalist,  and  stood  nobly 
by  Samuel  Chase,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  time  of  the  latter's  impeachment 
for  injudicious  utterances  from  the  bench. 

The  Worthington  family  is  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent in  Maryland,  and  through  marriage  is  connected 
with  nearly  every  other  family  of  distinction:  Dorsey, 
Brice,  Warfield,  Hammond,  Goldsborough,  Contee, 
Ridgely,  Howard,  and  Chew.  The  Worthingtons  came 
to  this  country  from  England,  where,  according  to 
Burke,  the  town  of  Worthington  in  the  "  Hundred  of 

£20 


4f; 


ENTRANCE  TO  BELVOIR 


BELVOIR 


Leyland,"  near  Liverpool,  has  been  "  in  high  repute 
from  the  time  of  the  Plantagenets." 

The  first  Worthington  to  settle  in  Maryland  was 
Captain  John,  that  famous  old  Indian  fighter,  in  1670. 
In  1686  Captain  John  purchased  Greenbury  Forest 
from  Col.  Nicholas  Greenbury,  and  shortly  thereafter 
married  Sarah  Howard,  a  daughter  of  Matthew 
Howard,  his  neighbour  on  the  Severn  River.  In  1692 
he  was  appointed  Associate  Justice  of  Anne  Arundel 
County,  and  in  1699  was  a  member  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly.  At  the  time  of  his  death  in  1701  he  owned, 
in  addition  to  Greenbury  Forest,  a  number  of  valuable 
tracts  of  land:  Lowe's  Addition,  Howard's  Pasture, 
Pendenny,  and  Expectation,  and  many  nameless  tracts 
aggregating  a  vast  acreage.  His  tomb,  an  immense 
slab  of  gray  marble,  lies  opposite  the  United  States 
Naval  Academy,  just  a  few  yards  from  the  old  home- 
stead. It  is  excellently  preserved,  and  the  inscription 
is  quite  legible: 

Here  Lieth  Interred  The  Body  Of 
Captain  John  Worthington, 
Who  Departed  This  Life,  April  9, 1701, 
Aged  51   years. 

Belvoir  continued  in  the  possession  of  the  Worthing- 
ton family  until  within  recent  years.  The  surviving 
children  of  Nicholas  Brice  Worthington  are:  Joseph 
Muse,  Eugene,  Mrs.  Gordon  Handy  Claude  (formerly 

221 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

Sophia  Muse  Worthington),  and  Rear- Admiral  Walter 
Fitzhugh  Worthington  of  the  United  States  Navy,  all 
of  Annapolis. 

The  present  owner  is  Reuben  J.  Poluyanski,  who,  by 
the  generous  application  of  brilliant  pigments  to  the 
walls  and  woodwork,  has  made  the  "  green,"  "  yellow  " 
and  "  blue "  rooms  of  this  beautiful  old  place  quite 
unmistakable. 

The  mansion  is  situated  on  a  high  ridge  and  has  a 
beautiful  outlook  over  the  blue  waters  of  Round  Bay, 
the  head  of  the  Severn  River,  which  it  faces.  Archi- 
tecturally its  design  is  that  of  a  capital  letter  T ,  the  head 
of  the  T  being  the  front  of  the  house  and  the  post  to- 
wards the  river.  At  the  base  of  the  ridge  on  which 
Belvoir  is  situated  and  between  the  old  house  and  the 
river,  is  the  course  of  the  Annapolis-Baltimore  post- 
road,  a  very  important  avenue  of  travel  one  hundred 
years  ago  but  now  very  rarely  traversed. 

The  doorway  of  the  house  is  situated  about  one-third 
off  the  middle  of  the  front  and  is  introduced  by  a  very 
quaint  portico  with  arched  ceiling  and  pointed  roof. 
The  door  contains  a  massive  old  knocker  bearing  the 
Worthington  coat-of-arms. 

When  you  enter  the  house,  you  are  struck  by  the 
thickness  of  the  walls.  The  house,  being  situated  on 
such  an  exposed  height,  required  even  thicker  walls  than 
was  the  custom  of  the  time  in  which  it  was  erected. 
There  is  some  very  pretty  wood-carving,  particularly  of 

£22 


47 


BELVOIR 

the  mantels  in  the  parlour  and  dining-room,  but  the 
house  does  not  contain  a  great  deal  of  ornamentation. 

The  brickwork  of  the  walls  is  very  solid,  and  the 
bricks  are  larger  than  ordinary.  The  foundation  walls 
in  the  cellar  are  fully  five  feet  thick,  and  in  the  cellar, 
also,  is  to  be  found  a  dungeon  constructed  by  the  original 
owners  for  mischievous  or  unruly  slaves.  It  is  safe  to 
assert  that  a  taste  of  this  hole's  black  recesses  would 
cure  any  negro  of  propensity  to  violence. 

That  this  means  of  correction  was  of  little  use  to 
the  Worthingtons,  however,  we  may  believe  from  the 
statement  of  Dr.  Joseph  Muse  Worthington,  a  beloved 
physician  of  Annapolis,  who  was  born  at  Belvoir  and 
who  says  that  in  his  recollection  of  his  father  he  knew 
him  only  once  to  deal  severely  with  a  servant  and  that 
was  when  a  negro  woman  attempted  to  kill  one  of  her 
fellow- workers  with  a  kitchen  knife. 

The  garden  of  Belvoir  lies  to  the  front  of  the  house 
and  even  in  its  desolation  to-day  shows  the  beauty  that 
must  have  been  its  own  when  in  perfection.  It  has  the 
outlook  over  Round  Bay  that  is  one  of  the  great  charms 
of  the  house,  and  contains  many  shrubs  and  flowers 
which  once  on  a  time  would  have  contented  an  observer 
near  at  hand,  without  his  having  to  look  to  distance  for 
beauty. 

Not  far  from  the  garden  but  to  the  back  of  the  house 
is  an  old  barn,  very  interesting  as  showing  how  solidly 
our  forefathers  could  build  these  adjuncts  to  life  when 

223 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

they  chose.  Its  walls  are  of  brick  half-way  up  and  are 
almost  as  thick  as  those  of  the  "  big  house  "  itself.  One 
of  its  especial  features  is  a  heavy  chimney  with  a  space 
for  an  open  fire  at  the  bottom.  The  barn  was  used  as 
a  living  room  by  the  slaves  of  the  plantation  and,  in 
accordance  with  the  traditions  of  the  place,  must  needs 
be  comfortable  for  them  as  much  as  for  the  most 
honoured  guest  in  the  great  house. 

Not  far  away  are  the  remains  of  the  slave  quarters 
themselves,  which  were  solid  log  and  mortar  structures. 

About  half  a  mile  from  Belvoir,  but  on  the  Bel  voir 
grounds,  is  the  grave  of  Ann  Arnold  Key,  grandmother 
of  Francis  Scott  Key,  composer  of  the  national 
anthem,  whose  resting-place  has  been  protected  by  the 
Maryland  Chapter  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America 
by  the  placing  around  it  of  a  heavy  chain  fence.  The 
fence  forms  a  little  square  with  the  insignificant  stone 
which  marks  the  grave  as  its  centre.  Standing  about 
are  great  sycamore  trees  and  tall  grass  covers  the 
ground.  It  is  a  desolate  scene,  yet  the  simple  action  of 
the  Colonial  Dames  has  given  a  warm  touch  of  humanity 
to  it  all. 


PLAIN  DEALING 

TALBOT  COUNTY.  MARYLAND 

CHAMBERLAINE— LOCKERMAN— HARDCASTLE 


m^^^^ 


?EW  old  places  in  the  State  of 
Maryland  can  boast  of  finer  tra- 
ditions than  Plain  Dealing,  the 
homestead  of  the  Chamberlaine 
family.  On  Plain  Dealing  Creek 
the  Indians  were  wont  to  trade 
with  the  Friends,  exchanging 
pelts,  deerskins  and  things  of  their  manufacture  for 
those  things  which  the  white  men  had  brought  from  the 
Old  World.  As  the  Friends  always  dealt  honestly  with 
the  Indians,  the  latter  named  the  creek  "  Plain  Deal- 
ing," and  it  is  from  the  creek  on  which  it  is  situated  that 
the  Chamberlaine  homestead  gets  its  name.  A  large 
stone  now  marks  the  spot  at  the  edge  of  the  water  where 
the  Indians  traded  with  the  white  men.  Plain  Dealing 
is  in  Talbot  County,  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland, 
across  from  the  town  of  Oxford  (settled  in  1695)  on  the 
Tred  Avon  River,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  streams  of 
the  Eastern  Shore. 

Plain  Dealing  was  deeded  to  the  Chamberlaine 
family  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.  This  was  the 
first  home  of  the  Chamberlaines  in  America,  and  was 
built  in  1753  by  Samuel  Chamberlaine,  who  was  born  at 
Saughall  on  the  Dee,  England,  in  1697.  His  father, 
Thomas  Chamberlaine,  and  his  uncle  John  had  for  many 

15  2ie5 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

years  engaged  in  trade  with  the  colonies  in  America,  and 
owned  many  ships  plying  between  Liverpool,  England, 
and  Oxford,  Maryland.  Coming  to  the  New  World  in 
one  of  these  ships,  Thomas,  in  1714,  decided  to  settle 
at  Oxford.  The  family  derives  its  name  from  John, 
Count  de  Tankerville,  Lord  Chamberlain  to  Henry  I, 
of  England,  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century. 
Richard,  son  of  John,  succeeded  to  his  father's  posses- 
sion in  the  royal  household,  and  assumed  the  patronymic 
of  Chamberlain,  but  retained  the  Tankerville  coat-of- 
arms.  In  1735,  Samuel  moved  from  Oxford  to  Plain 
Dealing.  At  that  time  he  was  one  of  the  richest  men 
in  the  county,  owning  thousands  of  fertile  acres.  For 
many  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Lord  Proprietor's 
Council,  Deputy  Naval  Officer  of  Pocomoke  and  Ox- 
ford, and  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Oxford,  to  which 
latter  position  his  son  Thomas  in  due  course  succeeded. 
There  is  a  tradition  at  Plain  Dealing  of  how  Susan 
Robins  of  Peach  Blossoms  married  Thomas  Chamber- 
laine,  eldest  son  of  Samuel  and  Henrietta  Maria 
Chamberlaine,  and  was  taken  to  his  lovely  home  on 
Plain  Dealing  Creek.  Soon  after  their  marriage  the 
husband  died,  and  for  seven  years  his  disconsolate  widow 
sat  at  a  window  in  her  room  gazing  out  upon  the  grave 
of  her  husband  in  the  nearby  burying  ground.  Rumor 
has  it  that  at  night  she  had  a  lantern  placed  upon  the 
grave  that  her  eyes  might  still  rest  upon  the  sacred 

226 


PLAIN  DEALING 


spot.  For  seven  years  the  widow  refused  to  be  com- 
forted, and  then  one  day  she  saw  her  handsome  cousin, 
Robert  Lloyd  Nichols,  ride  past  the  window  at  which 
she  sat.  Their  eyes  met,  her  sorrow  vanished,  and  the 
beautiful  widow  shortly  afterwards  married  her  dashing 
young  cousin  who  had  ridden  between  her  and  the 
grave  of  the  husband  whom  she  mourned. 

In  the  old  graveyard,  now  overrun  with  weeds  and 
bushes,  are  two  large  marble  slabs,  on  which  the 
Chamberlaine  coat-of-arms  is  beautifully  engraved.  One 
of  these  marks  the  gi-ave  of  Col.  Thomas  Chamberlaine, 
whose  widow  so  faithfully  kept  vigil  over  his  grave 
during  seven  long,  weary  years.  The  second  marks 
the  grave  of  Henrietta  Maria  Chamberlaine,  wife  of 
Samuel  Chamberlaine  and  eldest  daughter  of  Col.  James 
Lloyd  of  Talbot  County.  "  She  departed  this  life  on 
the  29th  day  of  March,  1749,  aged  37  years,  2  months 
and  3  days." 

Near  this  historic  old  graveyard  is  a  large  depression 
in  the  earth,  concerning  which  there  is  a  story  well  known 
to  the  residents  of  the  Eastern  Shore.  According  to 
this  story,  some  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  Plain 
Dealing  was  occupied  by  two  brothers  of  the  name  of 
Valliant.  One  night  one  of  the  brothers  had  a  dream 
that  beneath  the  spot  referred  to  there  was  gold  buried. 
The  following  day  the  two  brothers  started  to  dig.  At 
the  sight  of  the  gold  which  they  actually  found  one  of 

227 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

the  brothers  lost  his  mind.  The  value  of  the  gold  thus 
unearthed  is  unknown,  but  with  it  the  surviving  brother 
purchased  Sharpens  Island,  which  then  contained  about 
seven  hundred  acres.  To-day,  not  more  than  twenty 
acres  survive  the  unremitting  attack  of  the  waters  of 
the  Chesapeake. 

Like  many  another  colonial  home  of  Maryland, 
Plain  Dealing  has  its  ghost.  An  owner  of  the  mansion, 
according  to  the  tale  which  obtains,  fell  from  the  upper 
story  over  the  carved  railing  into  the  hall,  breaking  his 
neck,  and  leaving  a  stain  of  blood  upon  the  floor  which 
even  the  passage  of  the  centuries  has  not  erased.  After 
his  death  the  house  was  neglected,  and  began  to  go  to 
ruin.  Its  handsome  panelling  and  carving  began  to 
decay;  its  walls  crumbled  and  became  moss-covered;  its 
spreading  roof  showed  signs  of  advancing  age;  the  old 
furniture  became  covered  with  dust ;  the  old  portraits  of 
patrician  men  and  women,  with  powdered  wigs  and 
once-immaculate  ruffs,  became  stained  and  mouldy, 
while  from  the  wet  cellar  came  dank,  miasmic  airs  as 
from  a  tomb.  The  family  burying  ground,  just  across 
the  lawn  upon  the  banks  of  the  creek,  became  a  tangled 
mass  of  weeds,  trees  and  underbrush,  while  the  vaults 
cracked  open  and  their  ghostly  occupants  stalked  at 
wiU — an  ideal  setting  in  truth  for  ghostly  visitants,  but 
to  enhance  this,  the  neglected  old  dwelling  became  the 
abode  of  "  Katie  Coburn,  the  witch."     This  witch,  the 

228  ' 


PLAIN  DEALING 


last  of  her  line  known  in  Talbot  County,  was  aged,  de- 
formed and  hideous.  Children  fled  at  her  approach  and 
negroes  were  terror-stricken  at  the  very  mention  of  her 
name.  The  threat  that  "  Katie  Coburn  will  get  you 
if  you  don't  look  out "  had  a  salutary  efl'ect  on  the  be- 
haviour of  the  former,  and  the  latter  were  in  constant 
fear  of  being  hoodooed  by  a  wicked  glance  from  her 
**  evil  eye."  Negroes  wore  charms  to  counteract  her 
spells — rabbit  foot  and  what  not — and  it  may  be  assumed 
they  did  not  crowd  upon  the  heels  of  "  Katie  Coburn, 
the  witch,"  as  she  walked  the  highway. 

Not  far  from  Plain  Dealing  there  was  a  farmer 
whose  cows  pastured  near  the  old  Chamberlaine  burying 
ground.  One  afternoon  the  boy  whose  duty  it  was  to 
drive  the  cows  home,  had  to  go  near  the  lonely  spot,  and 
beheld  to  his  amazement  a  stranger  there — a  man,  tall, 
stately,  and  attired  in  the  fashion  of  a  bygone  period. 
The  man  spoke  to  the  boy;  the  latter  fled.  The  story 
was  dismissed  as  the  idle  fancy  of  a  child.  Again  and 
again  the  lad  saw  the  same  strange  visitant,  until  at  last 
he  spoke  to  him,  and  in  response  saw  him  walk  to  a  cer- 
tain spot  in  the  burying  ground  and  look  downward, 
stamping  his  foot.  This  performance  was  gone  through 
several  evenings  between  the  boy  and  the  silent  spectre. 
On  one  occasion  the  spectre  led  the  boy — now  no  longer 
afraid  of  him — into  the  deserted  old  home  and  pointed 
to  a  portrait  on  the  wall.    The  boy  saw  that  his  guide 

229 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

was  strangely  like  the  portrait.  Leading  the  lad  back 
to  the  graveyard,  the  spectre  pointed  downwards  and 
stamped  his  foot  as  before.  As  it  was  growing  dark 
and  the  cows  had  already  gone  homeward,  the  boy 
suddenly  decided  to  go  also  and  lost  no  time  in  so  doing. 
Still  they  laughed  at  his  story,  but  then  came  the  rumour 
that  "  witch  Katie "  had  not  only  disappeared  from 
Plain  Dealing,  but  no  trace  of  her  was  to  be  discovered 
in  the  surrounding  country.  The  boy  had  not  seen  her 
since  the  coming  of  his  strange  acquaintance  of  the 
graveyard.  At  last,  so  impressed  were  the  parents  of 
the  boy  with  the  story  of  the  strange  visitor — daily  seen 
in  the  gloaming  and  now  become  the  talk  of  the 
neighbourhood — ^that  the  father  accompanied  his  son  one 
evening  to  investigate  the  phenomenon. 

"  There  he  is,  father.  See,  he  has  gone  to  the  same 
spot  and  is  pointing  to  the  ground,"  exclaimed  the  boy. 

The  father  was  unable  to  see,  but  he  was  impressed 
with  the  look  and  manner  of  his  son,  and  replied: 

"  Well,  my  son,  we  will  see  what  the  ghost  is  pointing 
out  to  us." 

The  spectre  was  seen  no  more,  but  the  family  of  the 
boy  to  whom  the  spectre  had  revealed  himself  grew 
suddenly  rich.  According  to  the  legend,  they  belonged 
to  a  noble  family  in  England,  who,  having  been  de- 
frauded of  their  inheritance,  came  to  America  to  seek  a 
home,  and  that  this  ghost,  one  of  their  ancestors,  had 

230 


PLAIN  DEALING 


enriched  them  by  pointing  out  the  treasure,  discovering 
himself  (for  some  unknown  reason)  only  to  the  lad. 

Since  1735  Plain  Dealing  has  been  in  the  possession 
of  but  three  families,  the  Chamberlaines,  the  Locker- 
mans,  and  the  Hardcastles.  Gen.  E.  L.  F.  Hardcastle, 
the  present  owner,  bought  the  farm  in  1856,  and  built 
the  present  substantial  and  beautiful  addition  to  the 
original  mansion.  The  original  part  of  the  house  built 
in  1735  forms  the  rear  part  of  the  building  as  it  stands 
to-day. 


BEVERLY 

SOMERSET  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 
DENNIS 


EVERLY,  the  old  homestead  of  the 
Dennis  family,  is  on  the  Pocomoke 
River,  Somerset  County,  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland,  about 
six  miles  from  Pocomoke  City. 
The  original  estate,  which  con- 
tained over  1,600  acres,  extending 
beyond  what  is  now  the  Virginia  line,  at  present  contains 
only  500  acres.  It  was  first  patented  in  1664  by  Dan- 
nock  Dennis  during  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The 
estate  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Dennis  family 
for  nine  generations,  extending  over  a  period  of  more 
than  two  hundred  years.  The  present  owner  is  James 
Teagle  Dennis,  of  Baltimore  and  the  Green  Spring 
Valley,  Maryland,  who  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
original  owner.  Prior  to  Mr.  James  T.  Dennis's 
possession,  the  place  was  owned  by  Arthur  C.  Dennis, 
of  Winnipeg,  Canada;  Alfred  P.  Dennis,  of  Pocomoke 
City,  Maryland;  and  Samuel  K.  Dennis,  of  Baltimore, 
and  was  occupied  by  their  mother  and  sister. 

Beverly  is  well  situated  and  has  a  commanding  out- 
look upon  the  water  of  Pocomoke  Sound,  half  a  dozen 
miles  to  the  south.  A  straight,  broad  avenue,  flanked  by 
red  cedars,  leads  out  from  the  front  of  the  house  through 
orchards  and  cornfields  for  nearly  a  mile  to  the  country 

232 


BEVERLY 

road  at  the  eastern  edge  of  the  plantation.  The  velvet 
lawns,  the  beautiful  river  terrace,  the  stately  pines  and 
cypresses  rising  above  a  well-kept  garden,  materially 
enhance  the  natural  beauty  of  the  site. 

The  present  dwelling  is  the  second  of  the  ancient 
manor  houses,  and  was  erected  about  1774  by  Susannah 
Dennis.  The  first  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  house  is  of  the 
familiar  Georgian  model  and  contains  much  carving. 
So  typical  of  Maryland  colonial  homes  was  it  considered 
that  it  was  reproduced  in  outline  on  the  silver  service 
presented  some  years  since  to  the  cruiser  Maryland  by 
the  state  for  which  the  battle-ship  was  named. 

The  interior  woodwork  of  the  house  is  of  heart  yellow 
pine.  The  wainscoting,  staircases  and  window  seats  are 
wrought  out  by  hand  in  the  style  of  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  iron  porch  on  the  west  side  of 
the  house,  overlooking  the  river,  is  of  a  style  rarely  seen 
out  of  England,  whence  it  came.  The  front  porch 
(facing  the  main  entrance  on  the  east),  with  its  great 
white  columns  and  its  wide  upper  veranda,  is  in  the  con- 
ventional type  of  the  period  in  which  it  was  built.  A 
colony  of  nearly  one  hundred  slaves  was  contained  on  the 
plantation  until  the  Civil  War,  and  the  marks  of  the 
self-centred,  self-supporting  character  of  the  ante- 
bellum days  are  strong  upon  the  old  Beverly  estate. 
There  is  still  an  old  smoke-house,  in  which  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  extending  down  to  the  present  date, 

233 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

the  family  meats  have  been  smoked,  and  remnants  of 
the  old  negro  quarters,  the  "  ship-yard  lot,"  the  "  saw- 
bit  lot,"  the  "  tan-yard  lot  "  and  "  blacksmith  lot  "  exist. 
In  the  old  carriage-shed  a  coach  of  the  Louis  Quinze 
period,  with  iron  steps,  leather  straps  and  seats  for 
lackeys,  still  stands.  This  is  one  of  the  picturesque  old 
coaches  of  early  days  and  was  drawn  by  six  richly 
caparisoned  horses  driven  by  pompous  darkies  in 
magnificent  liveries. 

There  is  a  family  graveyard  and  two  negro  burying 
grounds.  In  the  former,  nine  generations  of  the  dis- 
tinguished Dennis  family  have  been  laid  to  rest,  and 
here,  also,  may  be  seen  the  handsome  tomb,  with  its 
quaint  lettering,  of  Susannah  Dennis,  who  was  the  first 
mistress  of  the  present  Beverly  homestead. 


SOTTERLY 

ST.  MARY'S  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 
BOWLES— PLATER— BRISCOE— SATTERLEE 


NE  of  the  most  historic  places  in 
Maryland  is  Sotterly,  the  Plater 
mansion  in  Saint  Mary's  County, 
on  the  Patuxent  River.  Through 
its  purchase  in  1910  by  Herbert 
L.  Satterlee,  of  New  York — 
whose  wife  was  a  daughter  of  the 
late  financier,  J.  Pierpont  Morgan — the  old  homestead 
has  singularly  enough  come  into  the  hands  of  one  who 
is  not  descended  from  the  family  of  its  builder,  but  who 
is  descended  from  the  family  from  which  the  English 
seat  of  the  family  of  its  builder  took  its  name.  Sotterly, 
in  other  words,  derives  its  cognomen  from  "  Sotterle," 
the  seat  of  the  Plater  family  in  England;  and  this 
Plater  seat  in  England  was  long  years  ago  purchased 
from  the  Sotterle  family  of  which  Mr.  Satterlee  to-day 
is  an  American  descendant.  Needless  to  say,  it  is  finely 
maintained  and  in  its  present  hands  is  a  magnificent 
example,  indeed,  of  the  fine  dwelling  house  of  the  early 
colonial  period  of  the  nation's  history  in  a  cavalier  sec- 
tion of  the  provinces. 

The  house  is  of  frame  with  brick  foundation,  gables, 
and  porches  and  a  flagstone  colonnade.  It  is  in  the 
shape  of  a  capital  letter  Z  and  is  one  and  a  half  stories 

235 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

in  height  with  a  steep  roof,  surmounted  by  a  cupola  and 
pierced  with  triangular  capped  dormer  windows.  From 
cellar  to  foot  of  the  hill  below  the  house  leads  a  secret 
passageway  of  brick. 

The  rooms  are  large  and  airy  on  the  first  floor  but 
low  and  sloping  on  the  second.  Throughout  the  house 
is  a  great  deal  of  fine  panelling  and  in  the  parlour,  in 
particular,  is  to  be  found  a  quantity  of  delicate  carving, 
the  ornamentation  of  the  alcoves  here  being  especially 
fine.  The  doors  of  the  parlour  are  of  solid  mahogany, 
swung  on  solid  brass  straps  extending  about  two  feet 
out  from  the  frame. 

The  stairway  is  of  mahogany  and  the  balustrade  and 
newel  post  are  of  an  ingenious  filigree  which,  family 
tradition  tells  us,  was  devised  by  a  mechanic  named 
Bowen  who  was  one  of  the  "  King's  seven  year  con- 
victs." He  was  purchased  by  the  builder  of  Sotterly 
and  liberated  for  his  devoted  work  here. 

James  Walter  Thomas,  the  historian  of  Saint  Mary's 
County,  says: 

In  the  front  yard  of  Sotterly  formerly  stood  two  small 
square  buildings  with  cone-shaped  roofs.  The  one  stood  at  the 
garden  gate  and  was  used  as  a  wine  and  smoking  room ;  the 
other  stood  immediately  opposite,  and  was  used  as  the  office  of 
the  Collector  and  Naval  Officer  of  the  Patuxent  District.  The 
former  of  these  is  now  at  the  foot  of  the  yard,  opposite  the  old 
"  Gate  Lodge,"  the  other  is  in  the  barn-yard,  flanked  by  a  series 
of  sheds  and  used  as  a  granary. 

Sotterly  was  erected  about  1730  by  James  Bowles. 

236 


SOTTERLY 


For  a  number  of  years  it  was  known  as  Bowles'  Separa- 
tion, as  the  ground  on  which  it  stood  was  originally  part 
of  Fenwick's  Manor,  one  of  the  earliest  grants  of  land 
in  the  province  of  Maryland,  and  was  "  separated " 
from  it  for  Bowles.  At  first  it  contained  2,000  acres, 
but  this  number  has  long  since  dwindled  to  the  present 
comparatively  modest  limits  of  the  estate.  After  no 
long  time  James  Bowles  died,  and  his  widow  married 
the  Hon.  George  Plater,  one  of  the  most  important  men 
of  the  province.    James  Walter  Thomas  says: 

The  Hon.  George  Plater  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  and 
Attorney  General  of  Maryland  as  early  as  1691,  and  from  1692 
to  1720  was  the  Collector  of  Customs  for  the  Patuxent. 

Governor  George  Plater,  only  son  of  Hon.  George  Plater, 
and  heir  of  Sotterly,  was  bom  in  1736,  and  was  educated  at 
Williami  and  Mary's  College.  In  1760  he  visited  England, 
where  he  was  introduced  by  letters  from  Governor  Horatio 
Sharpe.  He  seems  to  have  made  an  agreeable  impression  while 
there  upon  Lord  Baltimore,  who  shortly  after  indicated  to 
Governor  Sharpe  his  desire  to  have  him  associated  "  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Province,"  and  with  which  he  soon  became  so  prominently 
connected.  He  married  Ann  Rousby,  the  only  child  of  Col.  John 
Rousby,  of  the  once  famous  and  beautiful  estate  on  the  Calvert 
side  of  the  Patuxent,  known  as  Rousby  Hall.  Mrs.  Plater 
enjoys  the  reputation  of  having  been  a  woman  possessed  of  rare 
personal  beauty  and  stately  elegance.  Her  rich  patrimony, 
added  to  the  already  large  estate  of  her  husband,  enabled  the 
occupants  of  Sotterly  to  live  in  courtly  style,  and  in  full  keeping 
with  their  distinguished  position,  as  is  clearly  attested  by  the 
will  of  Governor  Plater  and  the  inventory  of  his  estate.  Governor 
George  and  Ann  Rousby  Plater  left  two  daughters,  Ann  and 
Rebecca  (whose  fame  for  beauty  and  accomplishments  have  lived 

237 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

to  the  present  day),  and  three  sons,  George,  Thomas,  and  John 
Rousby  Plater.  Ann  Plater  married  the  distinguished  jurist 
and  statesman,  Philip  Barton  Key,  and  Rebecca  married  General 
Uriah  Forrest,  of  the  Maryland  line;  George,  eldest  son  of 
Governor  George  Plater  and  heir  of  Sotterly,  married,  first, 
March  9,  1795,  Cecelia  B.  Bond,  of  Southampton,  and  second, 
March  22,  1798,  Elizabeth  Somerville.  He  died  in  1802,  leav- 
ing by  his  first  marriage  George,  who  inherited  Sotterly  and 
lost  it,  and  by  his  second  Ann  Elizabeth  Plater,  who  married  her 
cousin,  John  Rousby  Plater.  Judge  John  Rousby,  second  son 
of  Governor  George  Plater,  married  Elizabeth  Tuttle,  of 
Annapolis,  Maryland.    He  died  in  1832. 

There  is  an  interesting  story  told  of  Ann  Rousby, 
who  was  the  wife  of  Gov.  George  Plater.  Mrs.  Rousby, 
the  mother,  became  a  widow  at  twenty,  and  as  mistress  of 
a  fine  estate  and  proprietress  of  many  personal  charms 
as  well,  was  much  sought  after  in  marriage.  Among  the 
most  ardent  of  her  wooers  was  a  Colonel  Fitzhugh,  of 
Virginia,  who  was  leaving  Rousby  Hall  one  day  when 
he  espied  Mrs.  Rousby's  infant  daughter  asleep  with  its 
nurse  near  the  water  side.  He  approached  the  sleeping 
child  and  took  it  in  his  arms,  and  before  the  startled 
mother,  who  had  followed  his  movements  with  wonder- 
ing eyes,  could  guess  what  he  was  about,  had  held  the 
infant  far  out  over  the  water. 

"  If  you  do  not  promise  to  marry  me,  I  will  drop  this 
child  into  the  current,"  he  said. 

The  distracted  mother  gave  the  promise  asked  and 
not  long  after  became  the  bride  of  Colonel  Fitzhugh. 
The  infant  whose  tiny  life  was  the  battlefield  of  two 

238 


SOTTERLY 


wills  was  that  Ann  Roiisby  who  became  the  wife  of 
Governor  George  Plater, 

Early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  after  more  than  a 
hundred  years  of  possession,  Sotterly  passed  from  the 
Platers  and  until  its  purchase  by  Mr.  Satterlee  belonged 
to  the  family  of  Dr.  Walter  Hanson  Stone  Briscoe. 

A  descendant  of  the  Platers  of  Sotterly  is  Mrs.  Kirby 
Flower  Smith,  of  Baltimore,  wife  of  Prof.  Kirby 
Flower  Smith,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  whose 
great-great-grandfather  was  John  Rousby  Plater. 


DEEP  FALLS 

ST.  MARYS  COUNTY,  MARYLAND 
THOMAS 


OT  far  from  the  village  of  Chaptico, 
Saint  Mary's  County,  Maryland, 
is  the  quaint  Thomas  homestead, 
Deep  Falls,  now  the  summer 
home  of  James  Walter  Thomas, 
lawyer,  of  Cumberland,  Mary- 
land, and  historian-author  of 
"  Chronicles  of  Saint  Mary's  County."  Somewhat 
fallen  to  frayed  ends  in  later  years.  Deep  Falls  has 
recently  been  restored  in  the  smallest  detail,  to  its  condi- 
tion when  new,  by  its  present  master. 

In  a  proprietary  grant  of  March  26,  1680,  the  estate 
of  Deep  Falls  is  spoken  of  as  "  Wales,"  but  shortly  the 
name  became  that  which  it  bears  to-day.  The  house  was 
erected  by  Major  William  Thomas  about  1745  and  has 
never  passed  from  the  hands  of  descendants  of  the 
builder. 

To  approach  Deep  Falls  one  drives  through  a  beauti- 
ful wooded  avenue.  The  house  itself  is  situated  on  an 
eminence  which  commands  a  fine  view.  In  appearance 
it  is  like  an  English  country  dwelling-house,  its  most 
distinguished  feature  being  the  group  of  great  chimneys 
which  tower  above  its  roof -line.  It  is  sixty  feet  long 
and  forty  feet  deep  and  has  wide  piazzas,  front  and  back, 
running  its  whole  length,  supported  by  massive  pillars. 

240 


DEEP  FALLS 


It  is  a  large,  double  two-story  frame  building  with  brick 
foundation.  While  the  whole  effect  of  the  old  mansion  is 
that  of  massive  simplicity,  yet  it  is  so  well  proportioned 
in  all  of  its  parts  that  it  is  not  without  grace. 

In  the  rear  of  the  house  are  five  terraces,  each  one 
hundred  feet  long  and  ten  feet  deep,  which  lead  to  the 
plateau  below,  where  is  an  old-time  garden  of  Queen 
Anne  design  filled  with  beautiful  old  flowering  shrubs 
and  bushes.  On  either  side  of  the  house  are  broad  lawns 
made  picturesque  by  gentle  undulations  and  rich  and 
varied  foliage.  Not  far  from  the  house  is  the  graveyard 
dedicated  to  family  burial  for  more  than  a  century  and  a 
half,  and  containing  within  its  limits  the  successive 
generations  that  have  lived  and  passed  away  at  Deep 
Falls. 

The  interior  of  the  house  does  not  contain  a  great 
deal  of  ornamentation,  and  bears  out  the  character  of  the 
simplicity  which  marks  the  outside,  but  it  is  distinguished 
by  the  staircase  which  leads  off  from  the  main  hall  at 
the  rear,  its  point  of  departure  being  signalized  by  a 
beautiful  arch.  The  sides  of  the  stair  are  panelled  and 
carved ;  the  newel  posts  are  of  maple  with  rosewood  tops 
surmounted  with  an  ivory  knob. 

This  William  Thomas,  builder  of  Deep  Falls,  was 
the  son  of  John  Thomas,  Charles  County,  where  he  was 
born  in  1714.  He  removed  early  in  life  to  St.  Mary's 
County  and  resided  there  until  his  death.  He  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Revolutionary  Convention  in  1775,  and 

16  241 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  St.  Mary's 
County  in  the  same  year.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Thomas,  daughter  of  Thomas  Reeves,  and  died  at  his 
residence  in  March,  1795,  leaving  four  sons  and  a 
daughter. 

Thomas  Thomas,  first  of  his  name  in  Maryland,  was 
one  of  the  early  settlers  on  the  Patuxent  River,  there 
being  a  survey  made  out  for  him — known  as  Broad  Xeck 
— ^in  1651.  In  1671  he  died,  leaving  amongst  other 
items  "  2  pewter  dishes,  1  pewter  Bason,  3  poringers, 
6  spoons,  1  Dutch  pott  and  pott  hookes  and  1  dish," 
to  his  daughter  Grace.  Others  of  his  children  fared 
equally  well. 

James,  eldest  son  of  Thomas,  was  born  in  the  j^ear  in 
which  his  parents  came  to  Maryland.  He  died  in  1701, 
and  left  among  other  children  a  son  John,  who  was  the 
father  of  William  Thomas,  builder  of  Deep  Falls. 

William  Thomas,  son  of  William,  who  inherited  the 
homestead,  was  born  at  Deep  Falls  and  became  a  very 
prominent  man  of  his  time.  He  held  the  commission 
of  major  in  the  Maryland  line  of  the  Continental  Army, 
was  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of  this  state,  and 
for  twelve  years  previous  to  his  death,  in  1813,  was 
President  of  the  Maryland  Senate.  He  was  a  prominent 
freemason,  and  was  elected  in  June,  1799,  Grand 
Master  of  Maryland.  He  married  in  1782  Catherine 
Boarman,  daughter  of  Mary  Brook  Boarman,  and 
through  an  inheritance  of  his  wife  acquired  the  historic 

242 


DEEP  FALLS 


estate  of  De  La  Brook  in  St.  Mary's  County.  He  died 
at  De  La  Brook  on  the  Patuxent,  leaving  Deep  Falls  to 
his  eldest  son,  James,  from  whom  it  has  descended  to  its 
present  owner. 

James  Thomas,  son  of  William,  inheritor  of  Deep 
Falls,  was  a  physician  and  was  educated  at  St.  John's 
College,  Annapolis.  In  1883  he  was  elected  Governor 
of  Maryland.  He  married  his  cousin,  Eliza,  daughter 
of  Major  William  and  Elizabeth  Thomas  Coates. 

In  the  graveyard  of  Deep  Falls  may  be  deciphered 
the  following  inscriptions  among  others: 

In  memory  of  Ma j  .-Gen.  James  Thomas,  Ex-Govemor 
of  Maryland,  bom  March  11,  1785,  died  December  25th,  1845, 
aged  60  years,  9  months  and  14  days.  This  Monument  is 
erected  as  a  tribute  of  affection  by  his  children. 

Green  be  the  turf  above  thee, 

Friend  of  my  better  days; 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee, 

None  named  thee,  but  to  praise. 

Richard  Thomas,  born  June  20,  1797,  died  Oct.  30th,  1849. 
He  was  long  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Maryland,  and  for 
many  years  President  of  the  Senate  with  unanimous  applause, 
standing  always  honorably  high  in  public  confidence  and  private 
affection. 

Major  William  Thomas  Sr.,  died  March  25,  1795,  a  soldier 
of  the  Revolution. 

William  Thomas,  youngest  son  of  Major  William 
and  Catherine  Boarman  Thomas,  born  March,  1793, 
studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Physick  in  Philadelphia, 

243 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  MARYLAND 

graduated  in  1814,  and  took  up  his  home  at  Cremona, 
another  beautiful  homestead  of  St.  Mary's  County,  on 
the  Patuxent  River.  He  married  Eliza  Tubman,  grand- 
daughter of  Henry  Greenfield  Sothoron  and  Mary 
Bond,  of  Chaptico  Manor.  He  died  at  Cremona,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1849,  leaving,  amongst  other  children,  John 
Henry  Thomas,  who  married  November  12, 1851,  Marj^- 
Leiper,  and  resided  at  Trent  Hall,  an  old  estate  devised 
to  him  by  his  maternal  cousin,  John  Truman  Hawkins. 
He  died  June  15,  1893.  In  the  burying  ground  at 
Trent  Hall  are  to  be  found  the  tombstones  of  James 
Truman,  Gent.,  died  August  7,  1672,  and  Nathaniel 
Truman,  Gent.,  died  March  4,  1678. 

The  children  of  John  Henry  Thomas  were :  George 
Leiper  Thomas,  an  attorney  of  Baltimore;  William, 
who  died  in  1857;  and  Elizabeth  Snowden  Thomas,  of 
Baltimore,  present  owner  of  Trent  Hall. 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF 
DELAWARE 


AMSTEL  HOUSE 

NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE 
VAN  DYKE— MOODY— BURNHAM— HAY 


HE  visitor  to  New  Castle,  Dela- 
ware, who  walks  up  the  well- 
shaded  street  which  bounds  the 
western  side  of  the  ancient  court 
square  of  this  delightful  little  old 
city  will  find  himself  (about  a 
square  beyond  this  commons)  in 
a  veritable  colony  of  old  houses  holding  gossip  together 
in  stately,  old-time  fashion.  Conspicuous  among  them 
is  the  Amstel  House,  so  known  because  so  christened  by 
its  present  owners;  this  is  the  oldest  dwelling-house  in 
New  Castle. 

Prof.  Henry  Hanby  Hay,  the  present  occupant  of 
this  mansion,  has  spent  much  of  his  leisure  lime,  after 
attending  his  official  duties  at  Girard  College,  Phila- 
delphia, in  investigation  of  the  history  of  his  home.  He 
has  found  that  the  earliest  mention  of  the  homestead  in 
the  records  preserved  in  the  court-house  of  his  native 
town  is  to  be  found  in  a  bill  of  sheriff's  sale  bearing 
the  date  of  1745,  but  from  structural  architectural 
peculiarities  and  other  suggestive  characteristics  he 
places  the  date  of  erection  of  the  house  at  about  1730. 
This  date  and  the  name  "  Amstel  House,"  a  fanciful 
cognomen  derived  from  the  ancient  name  of  "  New 
Amstel "  which  New  Castle  bore  in  older  days,  he  has 

247 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

had  carved  in  a  tablet  above  the  door  of  his  home.  In 
construction  the  house  has  a  great  resemblance  to 
Stenton,  an  old  homestead  near  Philadelphia,  whose 
date  of  erection  is  known  to  have  been  near  that  which 
Professor  Hay  has  assigned  to  his  own  domicile.  The 
first  occupant  of  the  mansion  whose  name  has  been 
handed  down  to  us  of  the  present  day  as  having  lived 
in  it  was  Governor  Nicholas  Van  Dyke,  progenitor  of 
a  distinguished  line,  whose  term  of  office  was  shortly 
after  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war  and  whose  name 
is  associated  with  many  of  the  great  movements  of  his 
locality  and  day. 

New  Castle,  in  Governor  Van  Dyke's  day  and  prior 
to  1837,  indeed,  was  on  the  main  line  of  travel  between 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  southern  points,  and 
Governor  Van  Dyke's  home  entertained  many  dis- 
tinguished travellers  making  their  way  from  one  part 
of  the  colonies  to  another.  Among  these  visitors  was 
Lafayette.  Washington  was  a  friend  of  this  hospitable 
patrician  also,  and  was  entertained  in  this  old  home.  In 
1774  the  enforcement  of  the  Port  Bill  brought  great 
suffering  to  many  citizens  of  Boston,  Massachusetts. 
Governor  Van  Dyke  busied  himself  in  raising  a  sub- 
scription for  the  alleviation  of  the  privations  of  these 
unfortunates  and  secured  an  amount  totalling  more 
than  nine  hundred  dollars  of  United  States  currency. 
Exactly  fifty  years  after  this — after  the  terrible  fire 
of  April  24,  which  destroyed  a  great  part  of  New 

218 


KNTRANCE  TO  AMSTEL  HOUSE 
c.  1730 


AMSTEL  HOUSE 


Castle,  including  the  home  of  George  Read,  the  signer, 
and  many  beautiful  colonial  mansions  of  the  city — 
Boston  sent  generous  pecuniary  aid  to  the  victims  of 
misfortune  in  the  little  Delaware  commonalty  and 
selected  Nicholas  Van  Dyke,  son  of  the  governor,  to  be 
the  distributor  of  its  offerings. 

From  Governor  Van  Dyke  the  homestead  passed 
by  purchase  to  Major  John  Moody,  whose  daughter 
married  John  Burnham,  Esq.,  and  inherited  the  house. 
At  her  death  she  left  it  to  her  son,  John  Burnham,  who 
was  the  owner  until  the  year  1900,  when  it  was  pur- 
chased by  its  present  occupants.  Prof.  Henry  Hanby 
Hay  and  his  wife.  Mrs.  Hay  was  a  Miss  Rodney  be- 
fore her  marriage,  a  native  of  New  Castle,  and  a  great- 
grand-niece  of  Caesar  Rodney,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  from  Delaware. 

The  Amstel  House  is  distinguished  on  the  exterior 
by  the  heavy  roof  which  far  overhangs  the  pavement. 
The  windows  are  almost  square  and  very  heavily 
trimmed. 

Entering  the  house  through  the  heavy  doorway  with 
its  very  decided  Dutch  character,  one  finds  oneself  in  a 
hallway  bisecting  the  house  and  facing  a  broad  stairs 
with  deep,  generous  steps.  To  the  right  is  a  living- 
room,  the  opposite  wall  of  which  is  heavily  and  beauti- 
fully panelled  in  wood.  To  the  left  is  a  dining-room. 
The  house  contains  much  panelling  throughout  and  the 
north  wall  of  the  aforementioned  living-room  has  set 

249 


COLONIAL  IMANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

in  it  two  secret  cupboards  on  either  side  of  the  big,  old 
fireplace.  In  them  the  master  of  the  house  in  other 
days  kept  the  wines  and  tobaccos  with  which  he  regaled 
his  guests.  The  house,  in  its  present  beautifully  main- 
tained condition,  owes  much  of  its  charm  to  the  energy 
and  discretion  of  Mrs.  Hay,  who  set  herself  to  renovate 
and  restore  it  where  necessary  to  the  state  it  held  when 
it  was  new.  That  she  was  successful  is  evidenced  by 
the  very  charming  glimpse  its  interior  gives  of  home 
life  in  the  externals  as  it  was  lived  in  the  days  of  our 
forefathers. 


DICKINSON  HOUSE 

KENT  COUNTY,  DELAWARE 

DICKINSON— LOGAN 


HE  Dickinson  House,  about 
seven  miles  from  Dover,  Dela- 
ware, in  Kent  County,  near  Del- 
aware Bay,  is  a  well  preserved 
example  of  colonial  home  build- 
ing. It  is  a  large  brick  edifice 
with  wings,  and  its  beauty  is 
much  enhanced  by  the  fine  trees  surrounding  it. 

Samuel  Dickinson,  the  first  of  the  name  in  Delaware, 
began  to  buy  lands  along  St.  Jones'  Creek  and  its 
vicinity  about  1715.  Pie  was  born  in  Talbot  County, 
Maryland,  and  moved  to  Delaware  rather  late  in  life. 
Other  branches  of  his  family  are  still  seated  in  the 
former  state,  where  an  interesting  memorial  of  its 
existence  is  Crosiadore,  an  old  homestead  not  far  from 
Easton,  Talbot  County,  Maryland.  On  December  3, 
1743,  he  received  a  deed  embracing  one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  acres  which  he  named  Dickin- 
son's Manor,  and  on  this,  about  1750,  he  built  his  resi- 
dence. In  1738  he  became  one  of  the  magistrates  of  the 
court  of  Kent  County,  continuing  in  office  for  many 
years.  He  died  at  his  residence  and  is  buried  in  a  family 
graveyard  adjacent. 

"  Crosiadore,"  the  Dickinson  home  in  Talbot  County, 
Maryland,  is  still  in  existence.     A  sketch  of  the  old 

251 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

place  has  been  given  by  Prentiss  Ingraham  in  his  "  Land 
of  Legendary  Lore." 

Here  lived  the  eldest  sons  of  the  Dickinson  family  for  many 
generations.  The  first  house  was  remodelled  into  a  modem 
country  home ;  was  built  of  Enghsh  bricks  and  in  English  style. 
The  wainscoted  walls  and  winding  staircases  spoke  of  the  age  in 
which  they  were  built,  then  regarded  as  the  most  costly  and 
elegant  finish  for  a  gentleman's  home.  The  whole  appearance 
and  air  of  the  place  gives  one  the  impression  of  refinement  and 
hospitahty,  while  the  resourceful  country  and  the  beautiful  river 
afford  Crosiadore  a  situation  and  advantage  that  make  the  spot 
an  ideal  one  for  a  home.  On  the  walls  to-day  hang  tapestries 
spun  and  embroidered  by  the  ladies  of  that  house,  and  in  several 
instances  the  subjects  of  the  pictures  were  romances  in  the  Hves 
of  members  of  the  family.  On  the  lawn  are  grand  old  trees 
which  have  stood  guard  these  many  years  and  have  been  the 
silent  witnesses  to  many  a  gathering  of  old  and  young.  Ahke 
to  wedding  marches  and  funeral  dirges  have  their  soughing 
winds  played  soft  accompaniments ;  and  now  in  turn  they,  too, 
are  in  the  "  sere  and  yellow  leaf,"  yet  still  replete  with  memories 
dear  to  those  who  read.  "  Crosiadore  "  is  a  corruption  of  the 
French  "  croix  d'or  "  meaning  "  cross  of  gold,"  derived  perhaps 
from  some  heraldic  design  of  the  ancestors  who  were  engaged 
in  the  crusades. 

In  this  old  home  was  bom,  in  1732,  John  Dickinson,  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  founder  of  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Samuel  Dickinson,  the 
grandson  of  the  first  proprietor  of  the  estate,  and  of  Mary 
Cadwalader,  his  second  wife,  sister  of  Dr.  Thomas  Cadwalader, 
of  Philadelphia.  In  1740  Samuel  Dickinson  moved  to  Kent 
County,  Delaware.  Another  scion  of  this  house  was  the  Dickin- 
son who  fought  and  was  killed  in  a  duel  with  President  Andrew 
Jackson.  The  cause  of  diff'erence  was  a  trivial  one,  but,  accord- 
ess 


DICKINSON  HOUSE 


ing  to  the  code  of  those  days,  honour  had  to  be  satisfied  by  resort 
to  arms.  At  the  first  fire  Dickinson  wounded  his  opponent,  but 
Jackson,  reserving  his  fire,  advanced,  shot  and  killed  Dickinson 
instantly.  His  body  was  brought  to  Talbot  County,  and  he  was 
buried  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Caroline. 

John  Dickinson,  son  of  Samuel,  and  the  next  occu- 
pant of  the  Dickinson  House,  was  born  in  Maryland 
two  years  before  his  father  moved  to  Delaware.  He 
was  the  author  of  the  famous  "  Farmer's  Letters," 
which  created  so  much  discussion  just  prior  to  the 
Revolution  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  it  was  in 
this  house  that  they  were  written.  After  the  close  of  the 
conflict  between  Great  Britain  and  her  colony,  Mr. 
Dickinson  moved  to  Wilmington,  and  later  to  Phila- 
delphia where  he  died  in  1801,  aged  seventy-five  years. 
He  left  two  daughters,  Sally  N.  and  JNIaria.  The 
former  was  the  inheritor  of  the  homestead,  but  at  her 
death,  unmarried,  it  passed  to  her  sister's  children.  "  At 
the  time  of  her  death,"  says  Scharf,  "  she  was  the  largest 
landowner  in  Kent  County,  and  was  assessed  on  over 
three  thousand  acres  of  highland  and  marsh." 

Maria  Dickinson  married  Albanus  Logan,  who  was 
descended  from  William  Logan,  a  man  of  consequence 
under  Penn's  administration,  and  they  had  four  chil- 
dren. These  were  Dr.  John  Dickinson  Logan,  Gustavus 
G.,  Mary  N.,  and  Mrs.  Betton.  When  the  property 
was  divided  between  them,  Samuel  Betton  received  the 
north  part  as  his  mother's  share;  Gustavus  G.,  the  home 

253 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

property;  Doctor  John  Dickinson,  the  lower  part;  and 
Mary,  other  lands  adjacent. 

The  only  piece  of  land  sold  of  the  Dickinson  estate, 
since  1743,  was  disposed  of  by  Miss  Sally  Dickinson  in 
1823  to  Levick  Palmer,  who  was  thus  singled  out  for 
favour  because  he  was  a  Quaker. 


4S 


KENSEY  JOHNS  HOUSE 

NEW  CASTLE.  DELAWARE 

JOHNS— STOCKTON— MOORE 


HE  Kensey  Johns  House,  New 
Castle,  Delaware,  faces  the  his- 
toric court-house  square  which  has 
seen  four  flags  fly  and  four 
nations  conduct  their  tribunals  of 
justice  and  is  on  the  northeast 
corner  of  Third  and  Delaware 
Avenues.  It  is  the  largest  of  the  older  mansions  of  the 
quaint  city  and  is  the  only  one  that  has  that  distinctive 
feature  of  many  colonial  homes — a  wing.  Now  occupied 
by  the  family  of  Dr.  Lewis  Booker,  a  well-known  physi- 
cian of  New  Castle,  it  was  built  about  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  by  Chief  Justice  Kensey  Johns,  one 
of  the  distinguished  men  of  the  early  days  of  the  state 
of  Delaware.  The  house  is  two  stories  and  a  half  in 
height  and  has  a  long  extension  in  the  rear.  The  door- 
way is  chaste  and  graceful  in  design,  and  the  interior  of 
the  house  contains  much  fine  carving. 

The  builder  of  this  house  was  noted  for  his  hospi- 
tality. He  was  a  man  of  broad  culture  and  great  learn- 
ing and  his  library  contained  more  books  than  were  to 
be  found  in  almost  any  other  collection  in  the  state  in 
that  day.  He  was  of  Maryland  family,  and  of  that 
family  with  which  the  founder  of  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity and  the  Johns  Hopkins  hospital  in  Baltimore 

255 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

was  connected.  Upon  the  marriage  of  his  son  James, 
he  built  the  old  home  now  occupied  by  Mayor  James 
Rodney,  of  New  Castle,  as  a  wedding  gift  to  the  pair 
setting  forth  upon  the  seas  of  matrimony.  When  his 
son  Kensey  married  he  built  for  him  that  house  opposite 
his  own  at  Third  and  Delaware  Avenues;  and  these 
two  houses,  with  his  own,  stand  as  monuments  to  his 
love  of  fine  things  and  the  generosity  both  of  his 
temperament  and  his  pocket-book.  He  had  three 
daughters,  Susannah  (who  married  Dr.  David  Stewart, 
as  has  been  related),  Ann,  and  Nancy  (who  married 
Governor  Stockton,  of  Delaware). 

Upon  the  death  of  its  builder,  the  Johns  House 
descended  to  his  daughter  Nancy  and  was  thus  for  a 
while  the  governor's  home  of  Delaware,  during  the  in- 
cumbency of  Governor  Stockton.  The  mansion  de- 
scended by  inheritance  to  the  Misses  Nancy  and  Fidelia 
Stockton,  who  did  not  marry,  and  finally  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Moore,  of  New  Castle,  their  niece,  who  is  the 
present  owner,  though  not  the  present  occupant. 


•■3    K 
1-  ►< 


LOOCKERMAN  HOUSE 

DOVER,  DELAWARE 
LOOCKERMAN— BRADFORD— CULBRETH 


IKE  almost  all  of  the  other  Dela- 
ware colonial  homes,  the  Loocker- 
man  House,  in  Dover,  has  a  great 
deal  of  personal  charm.  It  is  a 
brick  building  two  stories  in 
height,  without  wings,  and  is  re- 
markable for  the  beautiful  old 
garden  which  it  retains,  a  memento  of  other  days.  The 
rooms  are  large  and  with  lofty  ceilings,  and  the  hall  has 
a  very  quaint  and  delightful  staircase,  while  in  the 
parlour  back  of  the  hall  is  some  very  well-preserv^ed 
panelling,  exquisite  carving  and  charming  shell-cup- 
boards containing  a  veritable  prince's  hoard  of  old  china 
and  glass-ware. 

A  glass  goblet  in  this  collection  has  cut  on  it  in 
bold  Briton  character,  "  Confusion  to  the  enemies  of 
King  George  in  the  Colonies."  Another  one  wears 
defiantly,  "  To  our  Hessian  confederates.  Confusion 
to  the  Colonies."  It  is  not  hard  to  guess  the  complexion 
of  the  house  during  the  revolutionary  period. 

To  get  to  the  famous  garden  of  the  Loockerman 
House,  one  merely  steps  through  the  old-fashioned 
doorway  in  the  parlour  and  immediately  finds  himself  in 
a  wilderness  of  towering  box-bushes,  great  trees  which 
cast  a  velvety,  deep  shade  in  the  brightest  noonday, 

17  257 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

and  strange  flowering  plants  whose  names  one  does  not 
even  know.  Of  the  trees  in  this  garden,  some  are  of  a 
variety  known  as  "  Kentucky  Coffee  Bean,"  for  just 
what  reason  it  is  difficult  to  discover,  the  fruits  of  which, 
very  much  like  almond  kernels  in  appearance,  become 
hard  and  lustrous  and  take  a  beautiful  polish  when 
carried  around  in  the  pocket.  Needless  to  say,  every 
small  boy  in  Dover  cherishes  a  Kentucky  coiFee  bean 
worn  to  an  intense  degree  of  brilliancy. 

In  the  house  is  much  old  furniture  brought  from 
England.  On  the  second  floor  one  will  find  fireplaces 
with  quaint  blue  Dutch  tiles,  which  were  brought  from 
Holland,  for  the  Loockermans  are  of  Knickerbocker 
ancestry. 

Francis  Vincent  in  his  History  of  Delaware  writes: 

Of  all  the  Delaware  Knickerbocker  families,  none  that  we 
know  of  has  so  complete  a  chain  of  descent  as  the  offspring  of 
the  celebrated  Govert  Loockermans,  the  sturdy  leader  of  the 
citizens  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  colleague  of  Augustine  Herman. 
From  him  the  Lockermans  of  Dover  are  descended.  .   .   . 

Govert  Loockermans  came  to  New  Amsterdam  with  Vouter 
Van  Twiller,  the  director  general,  or  governor,  of  New  Nether- 
lands, in  the  vessel  St.  Martvn  or  Hope,  commanded  by  Juriaen 
Blanck,  in  the  month  of  April,  1633,  from  Holland  in  the  service 
of  the  West  India  Company.  At  the  time  of  his  arrival  he  was 
aged  seventeen  years.  He  married  Maria  Jansen  (a  daughter 
of  Roelf  Jansen  and  his  wife  Annetje  or  Annetke  Jans,  who, 
after  the  death  of  her  husband,  married  the  ReA^erend  Everardus 
Bogardus)  and  was  by  that  marriage  brother-in-law  of  Oloff 
Stevenson  Van  Courtlandt,  whose  son  founded  the  Van  Court- 
landt    Manor,    in    the    state    of    New    York ;    also    of    Jacob 

258 


LOOCKERMAN  HOUSE 


Couwenhoven.  He  filled  some  of  the  highest  civil  and  military 
offices  in  New  Amsterdam.  He  was  despatched  with  Jan  Davitz 
in  May,  1664,  across  the  Green  Mountains  by  Stuyvesant  to 
arrange  peace  with  the  Mohawk  Indians.  At  Warrington,  he 
concluded  a  treaty  with  them.  About  the  same  period  he  com- 
manded a  small  armed  vessel.  He  drove  the  English  from  a  fort 
they  had  erected  up  the  Hudson  River;  also  at  the  head  of  an 
armed  force  he  suiTounded  and  utterly  extirpated  a  tribe  of 
hostile  Indians  on  Staten  Island,  who  had  greatly  annoyed  the 
settlers  in  New  Amsterdam.  It  is  said  that  the  memory  of  this 
indiscriminate  slaughter  of  this  tribe  of  Indians,  although 
approved  by  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  day,  occasioned  him 
much  inquietude  of  conscience  after  his  retirement  from  active 
life  in  his  last  hours.  He  was  despatched  at  one  period  at  the 
head  of  an  ai*med  force  to  expel  the  Swedes  and  English  who  had 
encroached  on  territory  claimed  by  the  Dutch  on  the  Delaware 
River,  near  the  present  city  of  Philadelphia.  .   .   . 

After  a  career  of  honoured  usefulness,  Govert  Loockermans 
died  in  1670,  reputed  the  richest  individual  in  North  America. 
He  was  worth  520,000  Dutch  guilders,  an  immense  sum  when  the 
period  in  which  he  lived  is  considered.  His  public  influence  and 
position  after  his  decease  devolved  on  his  son-in-law,  Jacob 
Leisler,  who  became,  by  a  civil  revolution,  the  first  governor  of 
the  colony  of  New  Amsterdam. 

He  left  five  children:  Maritjie,  who  married  Bal- 
thazer  Bayard ;  Arietta,  who  married  Samuel  Verplank ; 
Jacobus,  who  married  Hellegonda  De  Kay;  Judith, 
who  married  Gerardus  Stuyvesant,  grandson  of  the 
last  Dutch  Governor,  Peter  Stuyvesant;  Joannes,  or 
Jannetje,  who  married  the  surgeon,  Hans  Kiersted. 

Jacob  Loockermans,  second  son  of  Joannes,  or 
Jannetje,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam, 

259 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

1650,  and  studied  medicine.  He  became  a  planter  and, 
being  involved  in  political  troubles,  removed  about  1681 
to  the  vicinity  of  Easton,  Maryland,  with  his  wife,  who 
was  Helena  Ketin.  He  died  August  17,  1730,  leaving 
a  son,  Nicholas,  born  November  10,  1697,  who  married 
Sally  Emerson,  daughter  of  Vincent  Emerson  of  The 
Grange,  near  Dover.  Thither  this  son  removed  and 
made  his  home,  and  here  he  died,  March  6,  1769,  aged 
seventy-one  years.  Other  descendants  of  Jacob 
Loockermans  remained  in  Maryland,  where  the  family 
spelling  of  the  name  has  become  "  Lockerman,"  and 
where  the  family  has  at  various  times  been  of  promi- 
nence. 

Vincent  Loockermans,  only  child  of  the  above- 
named  Nicholas,  was  born  in  1722,  and  in  1742  pur- 
chased a  lot  on  the  north  side  of  King  Street,  Dover, 
where  he  built  the  Loockerman  House,  which  has  never 
been  out  of  the  hands  of  his  descendants.  He  was  twice 
married.  By  his  first  wife,  Susannah,  he  had  one  child, 
his  namesake.  By  his  second  marriage  (to  Elizabeth 
Pry  or,  daughter  of  John  Pryor,  merchant,  of  Dover, 
in  February,  1774)  he  had  two  children,  Elizabeth  and 
Nicholas  Loockerman.  The  family  spelling  of  the 
name  in  Delaware  is  without  the  final  "  s." 

Nicholas  Loockerman,  second  son  of  Vincent  and 
Elizabeth,  was  born  November  27,  1783,  and  died 
March  20,  1850.  He  sat  in  the  legislature,  and  was 
never  married. 

260 


LOOCKERMAN  HOUSE 


Elizabeth  Loockerman,  only  daughter  of  Vincent 
and  Elizabeth,  born  December  23,  1779,  married 
Thomas  Bradford,  LL.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  counsellor- 
at-law.  May  8,  1805,  and  died  in  Philadelphia,  April 
12,  1842,  leaving  as  her  survivors  her  husband  and  five 
children:  Vincent,  Elizabeth,  Benjamin  Rush,  William, 
and  Thomas  Budd.  She  was  buried  with  her  brother  in 
her  husband's  family  vault  in  the  burial  ground  of  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia,  which 
vault  has  since  been  transferred  to  Laurel  Hill  Ceme- 
tery, Philadelphia. 

Vincent,  son  of  Elizabeth  and  Thomas  Bradford, 
was  a  lawyer,  but  later  became  a  railroad  man  in  Phila- 
delphia. Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Elizabeth  and  Thomas 
Bradford,  married  Rev.  William  T.  Dwight,  D.D.,  of 
Portland,  Maine  (a  son  of  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D., 
President  of  Yale  College),  and  had  four  children. 

Thomas  Budd  Bradford,  son  of  Elizabeth  and 
Thomas  Bradford,  became  a  minister  of  the  gospel  and 
resided  at  the  ancestral  home  in  Dover.  He  married, 
as  his  second  wife,  Lucy  H.  Porter,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Robert  R.  Porter,  of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  and  de- 
parted this  life  in  Dover,  March  25,  1871.  His 
daughter,  Lucinda  H.  Bradford,  married  Mr.  Huston 
Culbreth,  of  Dover,  of  distinguished  Delaware  family, 
and  with  her  husband  is  the  present  occupant  of  this  old 
home. 

The  tombstones  of  Nicholas  Loockerman,  the  pro- 

261 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

genitor  of  the  family  in  Delaware,  of  Susannah  his 
wife,  of  Vincent  their  son,  and  of  Vincent  the  younger, 
are  in  the  Episcopal  churchyard  at  Dover.  The  in- 
scription on  the  stone  of  Nicholas  Loockerman,  disre- 
garding dates  and  figures,  is  as  follows :  "  An  affection- 
ate husband,  indulgent  parent,  faithful  friend,  kind 
master  and  a  generous  neighbour,  he  was  in  communion 
with  the  Church  of  England  and  to  his  death  continued 
a  member  of  that  society." 

That  on  the  stone  of  Vincent,  the  elder,  is:  "An 
affectionate  husband,  kind  parent,  faithful  friend,  kind 
master  and  generous  neighbour,  he  was  in  communion 
with  the  Church  of  England  and  to  his  death  continued 
a  member  of  that  society." 

That  of  Vincent,  the  younger:  "  In  public  life,  his 
usefulness,  in  private  life,  his  amiable  cordiality  in 
friendship,  secured  respect  and  esteem,  as  a  tender  and 
affectionate  husband,  an  indulgent  parent,  a  humane 
master  and  a  kind  neighbour.  His  memory  will  be 
endeared  and  perpetuated." 

Susannah,  the  faithful  wife  of  Nicholas,  is  sum- 
marized as  follows:  "  She  adorned  the  several  im- 
portant characters  of  a  good  wife,  kind  and  affectionate 
mother,  kind  mistress,  faithful  friend,  a  good  neigh- 
bour, and  fervent  Christian  and  died  in  communion  with 
the  Church  of  England." 

Concerning  The  Grange,  the  home  of  Nicholas 
Loockerman,  first  of  his  family  in  Delaware,  and  the 

262 


LOOCKERMAN  HOUSE 


life  lived  there,  John  Thomas  Scharf,  in  his  volumin- 
ous History  of  Delaware,  has  this  to  say: 

The  tract  long  known  as  the  Nathanial  Drew  Lands  was 
originally  warranted  to  Simon  Irons,  August  6,  1686,  as  the 
Grange,  and  is  described  as  lying  on  St.  Jones'  Creek,  joining 
the  northwest  part  of  Berry's  Range,  containing  six  hundred 
acres.  This  land  was  sold  to  Benjamin  Shurmer,  who  trans- 
ferred it  to  Andrew  Caldwell,  who,  March  12,  1723,  conveyed 
it  to  Nicholas  Loockerman,  who  made  this  his  first  purchase  of 
land  in  Kent  County.  He  built  a  large  brick  house,  forty  by 
fifty  feet,  two  stories  high,  with  an  attic.  The  doors  and  windows 
were  capped  with  stone,  the  cornice  was  elaborate,  the  hallway 
was  large  and  ran  through  the  centre  of  the  house,  and  the 
interior  was  divided  into  ample  and  convenient  rooms,  while  the 
slaves'  quarters  were  a  short  distance  away.  Here  Mr.  Loocker- 
man lived  in  the  easy  style  of  the  old-time  Southern  gentlemen, 
and  here  he  died  and  is  buried.  He  built  a  dam  and  saw-mill  at 
the  head  of  St.  Jones'  Creek,  northeast  of  the  house,  which  is 
mentioned  in  the  same  year,  1723.   .    .    . 

Nicholas  Loockerman  married  Susan  (or  Susannah)  Emmer- 
son  in  1721,  and  in  1722,  Vincent  Loockerman  was  bom.  Mrs. 
Loockerman  soon  after  died,  and  Nicholas  married  Esther, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Shurmer.  The  Loockerman  burial  ground 
is  to  the  rear  of  the  old  mansion-house,  surrounded  by  an  iron 
fence  and  well  shaded. 

The  old  homestead  of  Nicholas  Loockerman  is  still 
in  preservation,  though  the  landed  estate  has  been 
divided,  and  is  now  known  as  the  Covell  place. 


READ  HOUSE 

NEW  CASTLE.  DELAWARE 

READ— COUPER— SMITH 


HE  disastrous  fire  of  1824,  which 
swept  New  Castle  and  almost 
wiped  the  little  city  out  of  exist- 
ence, destroyed  among  other 
beautiful  colonial  reminders  the 
historic  Read  mansion  which 
stood  on  the  Strand  near  Har- 
mony Street.  The  edifice  which  stands  on  its  site,  how- 
ever, was  built  shortly  after  this  unhappy  year  by 
George  Read,  grandson  of  George  Read,  the  signer,  and 
is  so  typically  Georgian  in  aspect  and  so  gracious  in 
mass  and  outline  that  it  may  serve  to  recall  some  of  the 
charm  of  its  forerunner,  as  well  as  to  continue  the  name 
of  the  family  so  long  associated  with  this  spot  of  ground. 
The  Read  mansion  which  was  destroyed  was,  so  con- 
temporary records  tell  us,  one  of  the  finest  edifices  of 
its  day.  It  stood  in  the  midst  of  spacious  grounds  and 
was  surrounded  by  venerable  trees,  tulip,  oak  and  chest- 
nut. In  its  gardens  might  be  found  rare  shrubs,  as  well 
as  the  familiar  box  and  other  bushes  of  old  England. 
It  was  built  by  John  Read,  the  first  of  his  name  in 
America,  and  was  the  birthplace  as  well  as  the  life-long 
home  of  the  illustrious  George  Read,  this  gentleman's 
son,  author  of  Delaware's  first  constitution  and  one  of 
the  two  statesmen  of  America  to  sign  all  three  of  the 

264 


READ  HOUSE 


great  documents  of  the  colonies — the  address  to  King 
George  III,  of  1774,  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
During  his  occupancy  the  house  was  frequently  the 
stopping-place  of  Washington  and  the  other  great 
figures  in  our  drama  of  national  freedom.  He  is  a 
figure  in  the  painting  by  Trumbull  in  the  Capitol  at 
Washington  entitled,  "  The  Signing  of  the  Declara- 
tion," and  was  a  member  of  the  Dinner  Club  of  Con- 
gress of  1775,  whose  other  members  were:  Washington, 
Randolph,  Lee,  Harrison,  of  Virginia;  Chase,  of  Mary- 
land ;  Rodney,  of  Delaware ;  and  Alsop,  of  Xew  York. 

George  Read,  II,  was  born  in  this  departed  Read 
mansion,  and  so  was  George  Read,  III,  who  built  the 
house  now  bearing  the  family  name. 

In  1844,  George  Read,  IV,  removed  to  Arkansas 
where  he  acquired  and  maintained  one  of  the  great 
cotton  plantations  of  the  south.  He  sold  the  present 
Read  House  to  William  Couper,  a  merchant  prince  of 
New  Castle.  William  Couper's  granddaughter.  Miss 
Hetty  Smith,  is  now  the  owner  and  occupant. 

The  Read  House  of  to-day  is  large  in  size  and  will 
attract  more  than  a  passing  glance  to  the  beautiful 
Palladian  window  above  the  street  door.  This  entrance 
is  approached  by  a  long  flight  of  steps  from  the  street 
and  is  remarkable  for  the  exquisite  serpentine  carving 
which  decorates  the  arch  enclosing  it.  The  garden  at  the 
right  and  in  the  rear  of  the  house  is  finely  maintained 
and  is  a  charming  retreat. 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 

DOVER,  DELAWARE 
RIDGELY 


HERE  are  colonial  mansions 
greater  in  physical  bulk  than  the 
Ridgely  House  at  Dover,  Dela- 
ware, but  there  is  none  that  looms 
larger  in  the  perspective  of 
history,  considering  the  enduring 
interest  of  the  events  in  which 
it  has  been  an  actor ;  and  there  is  none  more  fascinating 
in  its  surroundings  or  more  individual  and  charming  in 
itself. 

A  sketch  of  the  lives  of  the  men,  women  and  their 
connections,  whom  this  little  old  homestead  has  sheltered 
or  given  a  focal  point  for,  would  be  almost  a  complete 
outline  of  the  history  of  the  state  of  Delaware. 

The  heart  of  old  Dover  (as  all  know  who  have  visited 
this  charming  peninsular  city)  is  "  the  Green,"  a  stretch 
of  turf  and  trees,  two  city  blocks  long,  and  about  half  a 
block  wide.  It  is  cut  across  the  middle  by  an  old  public 
road  of  Delaware,  known  as  "  the  King's  Highway," 
now  one  of  Dover's  chief  streets.  At  the  eastern  end 
of  "  the  Green  "  is  the  beautiful  court-house,  capitol  of 
Kent  County,  one  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  state. 
The  other  sides  of  the  square  are  taken  up  by  quaint, 
low,  gossipy  brick  houses,  like  the  pots  in  the  Rubaiyat, 
which  were  built — most  of  them — in  days  w^hen  Dover 

266 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


was  a  very  young  city  indeed.  In  the  midst  of  this 
reverend  gathering,  secluded  by  the  shade  of  the  trees 
of  "  the  Green,"  stands  the  Ridgely  Houge. 

It  is  fascinating,  this  ancient  home  of  the  Ridgelys — 
fascinating  with  a  charm  that  grows. 

The  walls  (of  old-fashioned  English  brick)  rise 
sheer  from  the  pavement,  and  the  heavy  cornice  only 
two  short  stories  above  you,  projects  far  out  over  the 
pavement,  forming  a  shelter  from  the  heaviest  rain- 
storms. The  windows  on  the  first  floor  are  so  close  to 
the  ground  that  it  would  be  easy  to  step  over  the  sills 
from  the  pavement  to  the  interior  of  the  house. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  view  of  the  old  home  is  to 
be  obtained  from  the  east,  walking  down  from  the  Court- 
house steps,  when  the  outline  of  the  quaint  old  chimneys 
and  the  broad,  sturdy  roof,  like  a  beetle's  back,  are 
disclosed. 

The  front  door  and  portico  (made  over  in  recent 
years)  have  been  modelled  after  the  garden  doorway 
of  Tulip  Hill,  the  old  Galloway  homestead  at  West 
River,  Maryland. 

There  is  but  one  wing,  and  this  is  at  the  western  end 
of  the  house.  It  was  used  about  eighty  years  ago  by 
Dr.  Henry  Moore  Ridgely  as  an  office,  and  is  entered 
from  the  street  by  a  door  opening  directly  on  the  pave- 
ment. Going  into  the  house  through  the  main  doorway 
you  find  yourself  in  a  square  hall  beautifully  panelled 
in  sturdy  oak.    At  the  left  is  a  passage  leading  to  the 

267 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

wing,  next  to  which  is  a  fireplace.  Straight  ahead  runs 
a  passage  to  the  garden,  and  to  the  left  of  this,  at  the 
rear  of  the  hall,  are  the  stairs,  a  very  crooked  flight 
indeed,  but  quaintly  and  deliciously  fashioned.  To  your 
right  is  the  entrance  to  the  parlour,  a  beautiful  room 
with  low  ceiling  and  broad,  narrow-paned  windows. 

Among  the  treasures  in  the  parlour,  the  discerning 
old  furniture  lover  will  descry  a  genuine  Clementi  five- 
octave  piano  in  splendid  preservation.  On  the  wall 
above  it  hangs  a  genuine  Copley  painting  which  will 
interest  both  antiquarian  and  art  lover,  its  subject  being 
the  beautiful  Mary  Middleton  Vining,  mother  of  a  dis- 
tinguished progeny.  Unfortunately  the  picture  has 
fallen  into  the  restorer's  hands,  the  way  of  this  being 
as  follows:  About  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the 
picture  became  dim  and  dusty  and  the  family  allowed  a 
travelling  Philadelphia  painter  to  "  restore  "  it,  which 
he  did  with  customary  discouraging  results.  Yet  still  the 
painting  retains  sufficient  of  its  pristine  charm  to  show 
the  hand  of  the  master  who  created  it.  On  an  adjoining 
wall  is  another  interesting  painting — a  Rembrandt 
Peale — never  attacked  by  hands  more  impious  than  those 
of  Father  Time,  which  shows  Mary  Wynkoop  Ridgely 
as  a  young  girl.  In  this  room,  too,  is  a  chair  which  be- 
longed to  William  Penn. 

Entering  the  dining-room  adjoining,  we  see  a  most 
exquisite  old  Chippendale  table.  Our  attention  will 
also  be  attracted  by  two  Sheraton  chairs  which  belonged 

268 


,  t  i 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


to  Captain  Jones,  Commander  of  the  Wasp  during  the 
War  of  1812;  an  Adam  sideboard  which  through  its 
history  brings  you  into  touch  with  the  Lloyd  family  of 
Maryland;  two  chairs  which  were  brought  over  to  this 
country  from  England  by  Thomas  Fisher  in  the  Wel- 
come with  William  Penn ;  and  a  rich  hoard  of  old  china 
and  silverware,  which  includes  the  famous  Ridgely 
silver  tea  service. 

In  the  hall,  where  we  started  our  journey  through 
the  home,  is  an  old  Ridgely  clock,  a  grandfatherly  relic, 
still  keeping  inexorable  count  of  the  seconds.  The 
staircase  which  we  have  before  noted  at  the  back  of  the 
hall  leads  to  a  beautifully  cool  and  airy  second  floor. 
Perhaps  this  coolness  is  partly  explained  by  the  fact 
that  the  house  has  two  roofs  (as  we  are  shown  in  the 
attic),  one  roof  having  been  placed  above  the  other 
many  years  ago  when  the  first  was  beginning  to  give 
evidence  of  its  struggle  with  the  elements. 

The  garden  of  the  Ridgely  house  is  one  of  its  most 
attractive  features,  yet  one  that  is  somewhat  discounted 
to-day  by  the  fact  that  a  hotel  has  been  built  on  an  ad- 
joining property  and  with  its  high  walls  overshadows 
the  quiet  gravelled  walks  and  cool  box-bushes  where 
the  Ridgelys  for  generations  have  loved  to  linger  in 
sultry  hours. 

After  all,  however,  it  is  not  so  much  the  house  that 
speaks  to  the  visitor  as  the  successive  generations  of 
human    beings    who    have    given    it    character.      The 

269 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

Ridgelys  of  Delaware,  like  many  other  old  families  of 
this  part  of  the  Union,  came  to  the  State  from  England 
by  way  of  Maryland.  The  first  Ridgely  of  whom  we 
have  record  in  the  colonies  is  the  Honorable  Henry 
Ridgely,  of  Annapolis,  Maryland,  who  came  from 
Devonshire,  England,  in  1659.  Just  where  this  Henry 
Ridgely  lived  at  first  we  do  not  know,  but  he  acquired 
grants  of  land  aggregating  nearly  six  thousand  acres, 
and  his  eldest  son  Henry's  home  was  Wardridge,  about 
four  miles  from  Annapolis.  Henry  Ridgely,  the 
second,  married  Katherine  Greenbury,  and  his  sister 
married  Charles  Greenbury,  for  whose  father,  Nicholas 
Greenbury  (the  first  of  the  name  in  this  country), 
Greenbury  Point,  one  of  the  two  arms  of  Annapolis 
harbour,  is  named. 

Henry  Ridgely,  the  second,  was  born  October  3, 
1669,  and  died  March  19,  1699.  He  had  five  children- 
Henry,  the  third,  Nicholas,  Charles,  Ann,  and  Eliza- 
beth. Of  these  Nicholas,  born  at  Wardridge,  February 
12,  1694,  removed  to  Delaware  in  1732,  and  became  the 
progenitor  of  the  distinguished  connection  with  which 
we  have  now  to  do. 

The  Ridgely  family  is  conspicuous  in  both  Mary- 
land and  Delaware. 

The  first  of  the  name  in  Delaware  settled  at  Duck 
Creek  Town  and  went  thence  to  Dover  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life,  with  the  exception  of  about 
two  years  passed  shortly  after  his  wedding  to  Mary 

270 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


Middleton  Vining  in  Salem,  New  Jersey,  his  wife's 
home.  He  was  three  times  married;  first,  to  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Col.  John  Worthington,  of  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  a  distinguished  colonial  official;  after  her 
death  in  1721,  at  the  conclusion  of  ten  years  of  wedded 
life,  he  married,  December  5,  1723,  Ann,  daughter  of 
Robert  French,  of  New  Castle,  Delaware,  his  second 
wife  dying  November  21,  1733;  third,  he  married, 
December  23,  1736,  Mary,  daughter  of  Hugh  Middle- 
ton,  of  Salem  County,  New  Jersey,  widow  of  Capt. 
Benjamin  Vining,  who  survived  him.  His  home  place 
was  Eden  Hill,  about  a  mile  from  Dover.  He  died 
at  home  February  16,  1755,  and  was  laid  to  rest  in 
Christ  Church  graveyard,  Dover,  where  his  tombstone 
is  in  good  preservation. 

At  different  times  in  his  life  Nicholas  Ridgely  was 
Treasurer  of  Kent  County  and  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Delaware,  and  in  1745  was  selected  to  be  the 
guardian  of  Caesar  Rodney,  so  conspicuous  later  in  the 
revolutionary  stir,  in  whom  his  papers  show  his  great 
interest  and  affection. 

It  is  difficult  to  form  a  definite  conception  of  the 
character  of  Nicholas  Ridgely  with  such  slight  material 
to  work  with  after  so  many  years,  yet  it  has  been  well 
said  that  his  spirit  memorialized  itself  in  three  of  the 
most  brilliant  figures  in  the  history  of  Delaware — Caesar 
Rodney,  his  ward;  United  States  Senator  Charles 
Ridgely,  his  son;  and  John  Vining,  his  step-grandson. 

271 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

There  are  many  traditions  of  the  beauty  and  good- 
ness of  Mary  Middleton,  who  was  Nicholas  Ridgely's 
third  wife.  When  her  first  husband  was  dying  he  said 
to  her :  "I  know  that  you  will  marry,  but  you  will 
promise  me  to  make  over  to  our  children  all  of  your 
large  estate  which  you  inherited  from  your  father." 
This  promise  she  gave  and  kept. 

John  Vining,  one  of  her  children  by  this  marriage, 
became  the  first  chief  justice  of  the  three  lower  counties, 
and  his  daughter  Mary  was  a  celebrated  belle  of  revo- 
lutionary times. 

Of  the  union  of  Mary  Middleton  Vining  and 
Nicholas  Ridgely  was  born  Charles  Greenbury  Ridgely, 
the  first  Ridgely  occupant  of  the  house  in  Dover  which 
bears  the  family  name. 

Charles  Greenbury  Ridgely  was  born  at  Salem, 
New  Jersey,  January  26,  1738,  and  was  educated  for 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Philadelphia,  under  the  tui- 
tion of  Dr.  Phineas  Bond,  who  afterwards  became  his 
brother-in-law,  each  having  married  a  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Moore,  of  Moore  Hall,  Pennsylvania.  After  his 
graduation  from  school  he  took  up  his  residence  at  his 
father's  home,  Eden  Hill,  near  Dover,  but  his  father 
wishing  him  to  have  a  larger  practice  purchased  him  a 
home  in  Dover,  the  house,  substantially  unchanged  to- 
day, which  we  have  visited.  Concerning  the  prior  his- 
tory of  the  house  let  us  consult  John  Thomas  Scharf's 
invaluable  "  History  of  Delaware."     Scharf  writes : 

272 


52 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


Mention  is  made  in  the  deed  of  Thomas  Tarrant  of  the  lot 
designed  for  William  Hamilton  as  adjoining  his  lot  on  the  west. 
It  was  not  taken  by  Hamilton,  but  was  sold  prior  to  1729  to 
Thomas  Parke,  who  resided  there  in  that  year.  In  the  deed  of 
January  30,  1730,  to  William  Rodney  he  states  that  the  deed 
from  the  Commissioners  was  never  recorded.  Errors  were  made 
in  this  document  which  were  corrected  in  the  deed  of  November 
2,  1731.  In  the  meantime  Rodney  sold  it,  August  17,  1731,  to 
Thomas  Skidmore,  inn-keeper.  A  portion  of  the  lot  had  been 
reserved,  whereon  the  widow  of  Thomas  Parke  lived  in  1735. 

John  Brinckloe,  on  May  30,  1735,  by  an  article  of  agree- 
ment became  owner  of  this  lot,  which  was  not  conveyed  by  deed 
during  the  lifetime  of  Skidmore.  After  Skidmore's  death,  May 
14,  1760,  Daniel  Robinson,  as  administrator  of  the  estate,  gave 
deed  to  John  Brinckloe  for  the  property,  who,  on  the  28th  of 
August,  1760,  sold  it  to  Nicholas  Lookerman,  who,  on  May  23, 
1769,  conveyed  it  to  Charles  Ridgely,  by  whose  descendants  it  is 
still  owned.  The  lot  lies  east  of  the  Capitol  Hotel,  and  the  old 
house  upon  it,  long  known  as  the  Ridgely  House,  is  probably  the 
oldest  in  Dover.  A  brick  in  the  building  bears  the  date  1728. 
Thomas  Parke  owned  the  lot  at  that  time,  and  stated  in  1730 
that  he  lived  there  at  that  date.  The  original  house  contained 
but  two  rooms,  and  was  added  to  on  the  west  end  and  the  rear 
to  its  present  size  by  the  Ridgelys. 

During  the  troublous  days  which  preceded  the 
Revolution,  Charles  Greenbury  Ridgely  was  an  ardent 
worker  in  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  State  Assemblies  of  1766,  1767,  1768,  1773,  1774 
and  1776.  He  believed  in  separation  from  Great 
Britain,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  Delaware,  of  1776. 

He  married  first,  June  11,  1761,  Mary,  daughter  of 

18  273 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

Abraham  Wynhoop,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons: 
Abraham,  Charles,  and  Nicholas.  Nicholas  became 
Chancellor  of  Delaware,  and  is  known  to-day  as  the 
'*  Father  of  Chancery  "  in  Delaware.  The  Chippen- 
dale table  in  the  dining-room  of  the  Ridgely  House  was 
purchased  by  him. 

Dr.  Ridgely 's  second  wife  was  Ann,  daughter  of 
William  Moore,  of  Moore  Hall,  Pennsylvania,  by 
whom  he  had  five  children:  Henry  Moore,  George 
Wemyss,  Mary,  Ann,  and  Wilhelmina.  He  died 
November  25,  1785;  his  wife,  December  20,  1810.  She 
was  noted  for  her  fine  intellectual  attainments. 

A  delightful  circle  made  the  Ridgely  House  its 
headquarters  during  the  lifetime  of  Dr.  Charles 
Ridgely,  when  perhaps  the  old  home  knew  its  most 
brilliant  moments.  Conspicuous  among  those  who  were 
everyday  figures  in  its  halls  was  Caesar  Rodney,  one  of 
Delaware's  most  famous  sons,  whose  guardian  Nicholas 
Ridgely  was.  Incidentally,  the  old  Caesar  Rodney  home- 
stead, a  sturdy  relic  of  pre-revolutionary  building,  is 
still  in  preservation,  about  seven  miles  from  Dover, 
near  Delaware  Bay. 

Concerning  the  ancestry  of  Caesar  Rodney  we  are 
told  in  an  oration  delivered  by  Honourable  Thomas 
F.  Bayard,  in  1889,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  unveiling 
of  the  Rodney  monument  in  Dover,  that — 

William  Rodney  married  Alice,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Caesar,  an  eminent  merchant  of  the  city  of  London,  and  his  son 

274 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


William  died  near  Dover,  Delaware,  in  the  year  1708,  leaving 
eight  children  and  a  considerable  landed  estate  which  was  en- 
tailed and  by  the  decease  of  the  elder  sons  finally  vested  in  his 
youngest  son,  Caesar,  who  continued  his  residence  as  a  landed 
proprietor  in  Delaware  until  his  death  in  1745.  Caesar  Kodney, 
the  eldest  son  of  Caesar  and  grandson  of  William  Rodney,  was 
bom  in  St.  Jones'  Neck,  near  Dover,  Kent  County,  Delaware, 
in  the  year  1728. 

Mr.  Ridgely  caused  his  ward  to  be  instructed  in  the  classics 
and  general  literature  and  in  the  accomplishments  of  fencing 
and  dancing,  to  fit  his  bearing  and  manners  becomingly  to  the 
station  of  life  in  which  he  was  born. 

We  have  a  picture  of  the  young  man  preserved  in 
the  letters  of  Thomas  Rodney,  his  brother:  "  He  was 
about  five  feet,  ten  inches  high.  His  person  was  very 
elegant  and  genteel,  his  manners  graceful,  easy  and 
polite.  He  had  a  good  fund  of  humour  and  the  happiest 
talent  in  the  world  for  making  his  wit  agreeable."  Which 
last,  George  Meredith  might  have  added  a  whole  para- 
graph to  his  definition  to  tell  us,  is  the  finest  flower  of 
'*  wisdom's  lightning." 

From  the  pen  of  this  same  felicitous  Rodney  we 
have  a  good  description  of  the  life  of  the  times: 

Almost  every  family  manufactured  its  own  clothes ;  and  beef, 
pork,  poultry,  milk,  butter,  cheese,  wheat  and  Indian  com  were 
raised  for  food ;  cider,  small  beer  and  peach  and  apple  brandy 
were  for  drink.  The  best  families  in  the  county  seldom  used 
tea,  coffee,  chocolate  or  sugar,  and  honey  was  their  sweetening. 
•  .  .  They  seemed  to  live  as  it  were  in  concord,  for  they  con- 
stantly associated  together  at  one  house  or  another  in  consider- 
able numbers  to  play  and  frolic,  at  which  times  the  young  people 

275 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

would  dance  and  the  elder  ones  wrestle,  run,  hop,  or  jump,  or 
throw  the  disc,  or  play  at  some  rustic  and  manly  exercises. 

On  Christmas  Eve  there  was  a  universal  firing  of  guns, 
travelling  round  from  house  to  house,  during  the  holiday,  and  all 
winter  long  there  was  a  continual  frolic,  shooting-matches, 
twelfth-cake,  and  so  on.   .    .    . 

In  this  lively  atmosphere  Caesar  Rodney  grew  up  to 
be  a  beloved  and  respected  figure.  Political  honours 
were  showered  upon  him;  when  barely  thirty  years  of 
age  he  was  high  sheriff  of  his  native  county  of  Kent  and 
two  years  later  a  judge  of  the  lower  courts.  In  1765  he 
entered  upon  that  which  was  to  be  the  absorbing  passion 
of  his  life  by  being  elected  a  member  of  the  "  Stamp 
Act  Congress,"  which  convened  in  New  York  City  in 
that  year.  As  a  member  of  the  Delaware  Legislature, 
in  1766,  he  threw  all  of  his  influence  into  an  effort  to 
stop  the  importation  of  slaves  into  the  state. 

It  was  while  life  seemed  to  have  opened  most  fully 
before  him  and  the  skies  were  clearest  that  the  shadow 
of  calamity  fell  upon  him.  When  about  forty  years  of 
age  he  discovered  the  presence  of  a  malady  of  the 
nose,  which,  on  examination  by  Doctor  Bond,  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  diagnosed  as  cancer,  and  he  put  himself 
in  the  hands  of  this  physician  for  treatment.  Even  at 
this  writing  there  is  no  certain  resource  for  the  cure  of 
this  dreadful  affliction.  The  use  of  the  surgeon's  knife 
was  then,  as  now,  the  only  palliative,  so  the  tortured 
man  submitted  to  operation  after  operation  through 
the  rest  of  his  life  without  gaining  permanent  relief. 

276 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


In  1769  he  was  Speaker  of  the  Colonial  Assembly, 
and  in  1774  and  1776  was  a  deputy  to  the  Continental 
Congress  called  to  order  in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Bayard 
says  of  him  at  this  time: 

He  was  a  man  of  action  in  an  era  of  action ;  bom  not  out  of 
his  proper  time,  but  in  it,  and  being  fitted  for  the  hour  and  its 
work,  he  did  it  well.  He  was  recognized  and  naturally  at  once 
became  influential  and  impressive — distinguished  for  the  qualities 
which  were  needed  in  the  days  in  which  he  lived  on  earth.  Moved 
by  patriotic  impulse,  he  had  counselled  the  election  of  Washing- 
ton as  commander-in-chief  of  the  colonial  forces,  and  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  conflict  sought  to  hold  up  his  hands 
and  sustain  him  at  all  times  and  in  all  ways. 

Perhaps  the  most  heroic  exploit  of  Csesar  Rodney's 
life  was  his  dramatic  ride  from  the  extreme  southern 
end  of  Delaware  to  Philadelphia  to  be  in  time  to  break 
the  tie  vote  which  kept  his  state  from  joining  her  sisters 
in  making  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the  unani- 
mous expression  of  the  United  Colonies  of  America  in 
Congress  assembled.  Richard  Henry  Lee's  immortal 
resolution  was  offered  on  June  7,  and  was  passed  in 
secret  session  by  six  out  of  seven  states  on  June  8. 
Rodney  was  at  home  working  with  his  people  to 
strengthen  the  cause  of  liberty.  Thomas  McKean 
voted  for  the  resolution,  and  George  Read  voted  against 
it.  At  a  second  ballot  on  July  1,  nine  colonies  favored 
the  motion,  two  were  against  it,  and  Delaware  was 
neutral  as  before.  McKean  sent  a  messenger  in  search 
of  Rodney  with  instructions  to  bid  him  make  all  haste 

277 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

to  be  at  the  Assembly  on  July  4,  when  a  final  ballot  was 
to  be  taken.  In  his  address  before  mentioned,  Mr. 
Bayard  expresses  the  opinion  that  Rodney  was  at  one 
of  his  farms,  but  writings  preserved  by  the  Ridgely 
family  seem  to  point  to  a  different  conclusion.  They 
say: 

A  celebrity  of  Lewes,  the  old  seaport  of  Delaware,  was  Sarah 
Rowland,  who  according  to  tradition  almost  prevented  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  from  having  the  necessary  number 
of  signers. 

She  was  a  beautiful  Tory,  for  in  the  first  years  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  there  were  many  friends  of  England  in  the 
lower  part  of  this  peninsula.  The  news  of  a  Tory  uprising  in 
Sussex  County  and  Maryland  reaching  Caesar  Rodney,  who  was 
attending  the  delegates'  convention  in  Philadelphia,  he  imme- 
diately mounted  his  horse  and  went  thundering  down  the  state, 
using  threats  and  persuasion  all  along  the  road.  While  at 
Lewes,  the  beautiful  Sarah  so  infatuated  him  by  her  charms  that 
he  lingered  longer  than  his  business  required,  and  was  only 
aroused  to  a  sense  of  his  delinquencies  when  he  was  presented  by 
a  loyal  servant-girl  in  the  Rowland  household  with  a  number  of 
letters  which  had  been  intercepted  by  his  enchantress.  Then  it 
was  that  he  made  his  famous  ride  to  Philadelphia. 

All  one  hot  July  day,  Rodney,  then  in  broken  health, 
rode  through  Delaware  and  lower  Pennsylvania.  On 
the  morning  of  July  4,  he  appeared  at  the  State  House 
door  in  his  boots  and  spurs  as  the  members  were 
assembling.  When  the  call  came  for  the  vote  of  Dela- 
ware, he  arose  composedly,  and  said: 

"  As  I  believe  the  voice  of  my  constituents  and  of  all 

278 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


sensible  and  honest  men  is  in  favor  of  independence, 
my  own  judgment  concurs  with  them.  I  vote  for 
independence." 

He  lived  to  see  peace  established  by  a  definite  treaty 
(signed  in  1783),  and  died  in  June,  1784,  the  victim  of 
the  malady  which  had  broken  the  happiness  of  the  last 
sixteen  years  of  his  life. 

Though  we  find  Rodney  at  the  home  of  the  fascinat- 
ing Sarah  Rowland  on  the  eve  of  his  immortal  ride, 
the  romance  of  his  life  is  bound  up  with  the  name  of 
Mary  Vining,  of  Dover,  afterwards  Mrs.  Charles 
Ingles.  There  is  preserved  to  the  present  day  and 
copied  in  the  American  Historical  Register,  of  July, 
1895,  a  letter  from  Rodney  to  Miss  Vining  in  his  own 
hand,  which  gives  the  secret  of  his  heart,  as  follows : 

Yesterday  evening  (by  Mr.  Chew's  Tom)  I  had  the  un- 
welcome and  unexpected  news  of  your  determining  to  go  to 
Philadelphia  with  Mr.  and  Misses  Chew.  If  you  remember,  as 
we  were  riding  to  Noyontown  Fair,  you  talked  of  taking  this 
journey  and  mentioned  my  going  with  you;  you  know  how 
readily  I  (the  letter  is  torn  here)  .  .  .  and  how  willing  in  this  as 
in  everything  else  I  was  to  oblige  and  serve  you.  .  .  .  When  I 
was  last  down,  you  seemed  to  have  given  over  all  thoughts  of 
going.  This  determined  me  and  accordingly  gave  Mr.  Chew 
for  answer  that  he  might  not  expect  me  with  him ;  thereby  I'm 
deprived  of  the  greatest  pleasure  this  world  could  possibly  afford 
me — the  company  of  that  lady  in  whom  all  happiness  is  placed. 
.  .  .  Molly,  I  love  you  from  my  soul !  In  this  believe  me  I'm 
sincere  and  honest;  but  when  I  think  of  the  many  amiable 
qualifications  you  are  possessed  of,  all  my  hopes  are  at  an  end — 

279 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

nevertheless  intended  (torn)  .  .  .  down  this  week  and  as  far 
as  possible  to  have  known  my  fate.  .  .  .  You  may  expect  to  see 
me  at  your  return.     Till  then,  God  bless  you. 

I'm  Yrs., 

The  "  Mr.  Chew  "  mentioned  here  is  that  Judge 
Chew,  of  Delaware,  known  as  the  "  fighting  Quaker," 
who  afterwards  removed  to  Germantown,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  built  the  colonial  mansion,  still  standing, 
known  as  Cliveden.  Of  him  there  is  the  following 
couplet : 

Immortal  Chew  first  set  our  Quakers  right; 
He  made  it  plain  they  might  resist  and  fight ; 
And  the  gravest  Dons  agreed  to  what  he  said, 
And  freely  gave  their  cast  for  the  King's  aid, 
For  war  successful,  and  for  peace  and  trade. 

The  Mary  Vining  who  was  so  ardently  beloved  by 
Rodney  married  Charles  Ingles,  a  clergyman,  and  died 
shortly  after  her  wedding.  She  was  aunt  to  a  younger 
Mary  Vining,  daughter  of  her  brother  John,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Nicholas  Ridgely's  third  wife,  Mary 
Middleton  Vining,  who  was  destined  to  create  far  wider 
havoc  in  men's  hearts.  This  was  that  belle  of  the  revo- 
lutionary period,  the  fame  of  whose  beauty  and  clever- 
ness aroused  even  Marie  Antoinette's  curiosity  in  far 
France.  A  charmingly  written  memoir  of  her  life  by 
Mrs.  Henry  Geddes  Banning,  a  descendant  of  Thomas 
Rodney,  Cassar  Rodney's  brother  and  executor,  has 
appeared  in  the  American  Historical  Register. 

She  tells  us: 

280 


>30 


=  5 

B      O 


^ 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


Thomas  Jefferson  when  minister  plenipotentiary  to  France, 
was  proud  to  assure  the  lovely  young  Queen  of  France  that  the 
extravagant  admiration  of  the  Delaware  belle  by  the  French 
officers  which  had  reached  her  ears  was  no  exaggeration,  for  the 
American  lady  was  worthy  of  it  all.  Marie  Antoinette  replied 
that  she  would  be  glad  to  see  her  at  the  Tuileries. 

Her  birth  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Vining  family 
Bible: 

Mary  Vining,  the  daughter  of  Chief  Justice  John  Vining  and 
Phoebe  Wynhoop,  was  bom  at  his  house  near  Dover,  on  Saturday, 
the  20th  day  of  August,  1756,  at  four  of  the  clock,  in  the  morn- 
ing, in  the  presence  of  Robana  Powell  (midwife),  Mrs.  Mary 
Wynhoop,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Ridgely,  and  was  christened  on  the 
5th  day  of  September  following  by  the  Rev.  Hugh  Niel, 
missionary  for  Dover  in  Kent  County. 

She  was  born  to  great  wealth,  and  could  and  did 
indulge  herself  in  many  caprices  of  a  luxurious  imagina- 
tion. Xever  to  be  seen  walking  on  the  street,  but  in- 
variably riding,  was  one  of  her  amiable  affectations 
until  financial  reverses  caused  an  upset  in  this,  as  in 
other  arrangements  of  life.  Another  of  her  fancies 
was  to  partly  conceal  her  face  with  a  fan  or  veil.  In 
old  age  she  wore  a  ruffle  on  her  cap  that  reached  her  eye- 
brows and  completely  covered  her  cheeks. 

There  is  but  one  portrait  of  Mary  Vining  in  exist- 
ence, a  miniature,  now  preserved  in  the  Ridgely  House, 
and  this  hardly  seems  to  do  her  justice.  Perfectly 
fashioned,  vivacious,  with  beautiful  eyes,  and  with  the 
personal   magnetism   for  which  her   family  was   con- 

281 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

spicuous,  it  is  not  hard  to  understand  her  vogue.  Of 
this,  an  instance:  When  the  British  evacuated  Phila- 
delphia in  1778,  an  officer  ran  the  risk  of  court-martial 
for  absence  without  leave  to  make  the  hazardous  journey 
to  Wilmington  to  see  Mary  Vining  and  persuade  her  to 
cancel  her  previous  rejection  of  his  love.  In  one  way 
he  was  lucky,  as  his  escapade  remained  undiscovered, 
but  in  another  way  he  was  not,  for  his  charmer's  heart 
remained  undisturbed. 

Among  the  distinguished  men  who  were  her  guests 
at  her  home  in  Wilmington  were  the  Duke  de  Lian- 
court,  the  Duke  d'Orleans,  and  the  late  king  of  the 
French,  Louis  Philippe.  She  numbered  General 
Lafayette  among  her  friends,  and  corresponded  with 
him  until  her  death. 

The  romance  of  Miss  Vining's  life  is  connected  with 
the  name  of  "  Mad  Anthony  "  Wayne,  who  stormed 
Stony  Point  instead  of  Hell!  After  surviving  the 
sieges  of  the  most  polished  and  brilliant  men  who  came 
to  the  New  World,  our  beauty  at  last  succumbed  to  the 
fascinations  of  this  rough  son  of  Mars.  The  engage- 
ment excited  great  comment  in  the  circle  in  which  she 
moved.  In  a  letter,  still  extant,  written  by  Mrs.  Cad- 
walader  (widow  of  the  revolutionary  general)  and 
addressed  to  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Charles  Ridgely  {nee 
Moore),  a  paragraph  reads:  "  Is  it  true  Miss  Vining 
is  engaged  to  General  Wayne?     Can  one  so  refined 

28i 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


marry  this  coarse  soldier?  True,  he  is  brave,  wonder- 
fully brave,  and  none  but  the  brave  deserve  the  fair." 

Preparations  for  the  wedding  were  being  merrily 
made,  and  Miss  Vining  had  bought  silver  for  house- 
keeping when  news  of  the  death  of  her  fiance  at 
Presque  Isle,  Lake  Erie,  December  15,  1796,  was 
heralded.  Mrs.  Cadwalader  writes :  "  Miss  Vining  has 
put  on  mourning  and  retired  from  the  world  in  conse- 
quence of  General  Wayne's  death." 

Among  the  gifts  which  General  Wayne  gave  his 
fiancee  in  thought  of  their  approaching  felicity  was  a 
set  of  china.  Miss  Vining  could  never  bring  herself  to 
use  it  after  his  death,  and  it  is  now  preserved  entire  in 
the  Ridgely  House,  a  pathetic  and  beautiful  memorial 
of  this  beautiful,  socially  brilliant  woman  and  her  virile 
soldier  lover. 

When  Cffisar  Rodney  (the  signer)  was  elected 
Governor  of  Delaware  in  1777  or  1778,  he  took  a  house 
in  Wilmington,  and  asked  Miss  Vining,  his  young 
cousin,  to  preside  at  his  table.  (The  location  of  this 
house  was  at  606  Market  Street.)  There  Is  suggestion 
of  romance  here — at  last,  one  of  the  name  became 
mistress  of  his  house !  Here  she  entertained  the  promi- 
nent men  of  the  day  as  her  cousin's  guests.  In  the 
cellar  of  the  house  Lafayette  stored  little  casks  of  gold 
wherewith  to  pay  his  troopers  and  help  the  cause  of 
freedom. 

After  the  death  of  General  Wayne,  Miss  Vining 

283 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

never  again  ventured  into  society,  though  she  lived 
twenty-five  years  longer,  and  she  but  once  left  the  seclu- 
sion of  her  home  in  Wilmington  to  go  to  another  city. 
This  was  when  in  the  winter  of  1808  or  1809,  she  spent 
two  weeks  in  Philadelphia  at  the  house  of  C.  A.  Rodney, 
Esq.,  nephew  of  the  signer.  Once  again,  then,  she 
conversed  with  her  friends,  and  it  is  recorded  that  her 
manners,  if  subdued,  retained  their  charm  and  her  talk 
still  shone  as  of  old.  As  the  years  rolled  by,  she  be- 
came sensitive  to  the  inroads  of  time,  and  received  her 
family  and  the  very  few  intimate  friends  she  retained 
in  a  darkened  room.  Her  abundant  brown  hair  never 
tm-ned  gray.  When  the  cap,  without  which  she  was 
never  to  be  seen,  was  removed  after  her  death,  a  high, 
white,  very  smooth  forehead  was  revealed.  She  died 
in  1821,  and  was  laid  to  rest  on  Good  Friday,  almost  all 
of  Wilmington  attending  the  simple  burial  services. 

After  Miss  Vining's  death,  her  only  surviving 
nephew,  William  Henry  Vining,  took  charge  of  her 
papers,  packed  them  securely,  and  placed  them  for 
safe  keeping  in  the  garret  of  his  aunt,  Mrs.  Ogden, 
of  Wilmington.  Some  years  later  Mrs.  Ogden's  home 
was  attacked  by  fire,  and  these  papers,  among  which 
was  a  manuscript  history  of  the  Revolutionarj^  War 
on  which  Miss  Vining  had  spent  her  declining  years, 
were  completely  destroyed.  William  Henry  Vining 
died  without  issue,  and  was  the  last  of  his  name  and 
race.     About  fifty  years  ago,  the  tombstones  of  the 

284 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


Vining  family  in  the  Episcopal  churchyard  in  Dover 
were  stolen  by  vandals  and  pounded  into  dust  to  make 
mortar,  as  if — Mrs.  Banning  calls  to  our  attention — 
fate  were  determined  to  obliterate  the  very  name  off 
the  earth. 

Henry  Moore  Ridgely,  son  of  Charles  Greenway 
Ridgely's  second  marriage,  and  second  Ridgely  master 
of  the  Ridgely  House,  was  born  August  6,  1779,  in  the 
house  in  which  he  died,  graduated  at  Dickinson  College, 
and  studied  law  with  his  relative,  Charles  Smith,  of 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  He  returned  to  Dover  to 
practise  his  profession,  and  about  the  time  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  became  involved  in  a  duel,  which 
nearly  resulted  in  his  losing  his  life.  Dr.  Barrett,  of 
Dover,  had  been  grossly  insulted  by  a  Mr.  Shields,  of 
Wilmington,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  sought  redress  for  the  injury  to  his  dignity 
through  the  code,  and  desiring  a  second,  asked  Ridgely 
to  serve,  which  the  latter  agreed  to  do.  Shields  refused 
to  meet  Dr.  Barrett,  but  challenged  Ridgely  instead. 
The  latter  fought  the  duel,  was  severely  wounded,  and 
for  a  time  it  was  thought  that  he  could  not  live,  though 
eventually  he  regained  full  strength  after  a  long  and 
painful  prostration.  Public  feeling  was  so  much 
aroused  against  Shields  that  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
Wilmington,  never  to  return. 

In  Ridgely's  case,  however,  this  painful  experience 
was  but  the  prelude  to  a  peaceful  and  happy  career  as 

285 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

a  lawyer  and  public  servant  in  his  home  town. 
Apparently  he  cared  little  for  public  office  for  the  sake 
of  pure  glamour  of  position,  as  at  different  times  he 
refused  the  chancellorship  of  Delaware,  and  the  chief- 
justiceship,  yet  accepted  the  comparatively  unimport- 
ant post  of  levy  court  commissioner  of  Kent  County, 
and  by  his  patient,  devoted  efforts  restored  the  offices 
of  the  county  to  an  orderly  condition.  When  he  found 
that  there  was  mismanagement  of  the  county  alms- 
house, he  requested  to  be  made  trustee,  and  by  untiring 
labour  made  this  institution  a  sound  and  self-respecting 
body. 

He  married,  first,  November  21,  1803,  Sarah, 
daughter  of  John  Banning  and  Elizabeth  Alford.  She 
died  January  14,  1837,  and  he  married,  March  17,  1842, 
Sarah  Ann,  daughter  of  Governor  Cornelius  Comegys, 
of  Dover,  who  survived  him.  He  died  in  1847  on  bis 
birthday. 

Not  long  before  Mr.  Ridgely's  death,  he  was  the 
centre  of  a  disturbance  almost  as  violent  as  the  duel 
which  ushered  in  his  public  life.  It  was  advertised  in 
Dover  that  Lucretia  Mott,  the  celebrated  abolitionist 
woman  speaker,  was  to  make  an  address,  and  as  feeling 
ran  high  in  the  little  town  against  abolition,  there  was 
talk  of  doing  the  speaker  violence.  Mr.  Ridgely,  hear- 
ing this,  took  her  into  his  own  home,  and  entertained 
her  as  a  guest,  "  not,"  he  explained,  "  because  I  like 
the  abolitionists,  but  because  I  will  not  see  any  woman 

286 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


ill-treated  in  Dover."  When  the  time  came  for  the 
lecture,  he  escorted  her  to  the  hall,  despite  black  looks 
and  threatening  words,  and  sat  beside  her  on  the  stage 
as  she  spoke. 

Strangely  enough,  Lucretia  Mott  did  not  touch  the 
theme  of  her  passion  at'all.  She  spoke,  not  of  Abolition, 
but  of  Art,  and  that  quite  charmingly. 

When  the  little  party  returned  to  Mr.  Ridgely's 
house  it  was  followed  by  an  ugly,  angry  crowd.  The 
master  of  the  house  would  not  let  the  shutters  be  closed 
over  the  quaint,  staring  old  windows,  nor  the  heavy, 
old-fashioned  front  door  be  barred.  In  plain  sight  from 
the  pavement,  he  stood  in  the  parlour  with  his  back  to 
the  fire,  and  conversed  with  his  guest. 

Still  more  hangs  to  this  visit  of  Lucretia  Mott's 
according  to  family  tradition  than  a  good  yarn.  There 
were  at  this  time  two  suitors  contending  for  the  hand 
of  Ann  Ridgely,  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  house,  and 
both  were  present  this  adventurous  evening.  Miss 
Mott  had  the  ill-fortune  to  mistake  empty  air  for  a 
chair,  as  we  have  all  done  at  least  once  in  our  careers, 
and  to  her  great  embarrassment  sat  down  on  the  floor. 
One  of  the  rivals  for  the  fair  Ann's  hand  laughed;  the 
other  rushed  forward  to  the  stricken  lady's  assistance. 
This  latter  it  was  to  whom  the  daughter  of  the  house 
gave  her  hand,  and  thus  it  was  that  on  May  11,  1841, 
she  was  married  to  Charles  Irence  du  Pont,  a  member 
of  a  distinguished  Delaware  family. 

287 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

Around  the  name  of  Sarah  Banning,  Mr.  Ridgely's 
first  wife,  many  traditions  cling,  full  of  old  Delaware 
names  and  events.  Her  mother  was  Elizabeth  Alford, 
the  beautiful  young  widow  of  Mr.  Cassius,  so  fair, 
indeed,  that  a  distinguished  French  traveller  said  that 
she  was  the  most  beautiful  woman  he  had  ever  seen  in 
Europe  or  America.  Philip  and  Charity  Alford, 
Elizabeth's  parents,  came  from  the  West  India  Is- 
lands, and  settled  on  Second  Street  in  Philadelphia. 
The  former  was  engaged  in  business  between  that  city 
and  Barbadoes,  and  was  lost  at  sea  during  one  of  his 
voyages  between  the  two  ports.  His  widow  moved  to 
Dover.  Among  the  legends  connected  with  their  life 
in  the  West  Indies  is  one  stating  that  the  mother  of 
Charity  Alford  fell  into  a  trance  and  was  mistaken  for 
dead.  Every  arrangement  was  made  for  her  funeral, 
but,  owing  to  the  absence  in  an  adjoining  island  of  a 
daughter,  the  body  was  kept  until  this  latter  could 
arrive.  When  they  were  about  to  place  the  lid  upon 
the  casket,  signs  of  life  were  found,  and  eventually  the 
supposed  corpse  proved  to  be  alive.  To  commemorate 
this  event,  on  every  anniversary  she  would  go  with  her 
children  to  the  graveyard  and  take  tea  upon  her  tomb- 
stone ! 

Of  the  fifteen  children  of  Henry  Moore  Ridgely, 
six  survived  him.  Charles  George,  born  August  12, 
1804,  graduated  from  West  Point,  was  professor  of 
French  there,  and  died  July  15,  1844.    Elizabeth,  born 

288 


RIDGELY  HOUSE 


February  27,  1813,  was  a  great  beauty  and  early 
matured  into  womanhood,  having  at  fifteen  all  the  grace 
and  ease  of  manner  of  a  girl  of  twenty.  She  was  edu- 
cated at  Madame  Grelland's  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  a 
noted  belle  in  Washington  while  her  father  was  United 
States  Senator.  Her  sudden  death  in  1833,  in  the 
bloom  of  womanhood,  was  a  great  shock  to  her  family 
and  a  blow  to  her  many  admirers.  Ann,  born  February 
21,  1815,  had  light  hair  and  a  fair  complexion,  and 
because  of  her  fine  intellectual  gifts  was  the  pride  of  her 
father,  who  educated  her  himself  entirely  at  home.  At 
the  age  of  twelve,  she  had  read  all  of  Shakespeare, 
Chapman's  **  Homer "  and  Dry  den's  "  Virgil,"  and 
was  familiar  with  the  classics  and  modern  poets.  The 
circumstances  have  been  related  of  her  marriage  to 
Charles  Irence  du  Pont,  son  of  Victor  du  Pont  and  his 
wife,  Gabrielle  Josephine  la  Pitte  de  Pelleporte  du 
Pont.  A  daughter  of  this  marriage,  Amelia  Elizabeth, 
married,  July  5,  1866,  her  cousin,  Eugene  du  Pont,  son 
of  Alexis  P.  and  Johanna  du  Pont,  and  had  issue:  Ann 
Ridgely,  Alexis  Prene,  Eugene,  Amy  Elizabeth,  Julia 
Sophia,  and  Ann,  who  married  June  26,  1894,  William 
C.  Peyton,  of  Santa  Cruz,  California. 

Ann  Ridgely,  wife  of  Charles  Irence  du  Pont,  died 
after  a  lingering  illness  at  her  home  in  Wilmington, 
October  20,  1898,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  her  age, 
and  was  buried  in  the  du  Pont  cemetery  on  the  banks 
of  the  Brandywine. 

19  289 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

Henry,  another  son  of  Henry  Moore  Ridgely,  born 
April  15,  1817,  married  Virginia  Jenkins,  and  had  the 
following  children:  Nicholas,  born  December  13,  1820, 
married  Mary  H.  Tilden,  and  had  issue:  Eugene,  born 
May  4,  1822,  married  Mary  A.  Mifflin,  of  Philadelphia; 
Wilhemina  Moore,  born  May  27,  1827,  married  Alex- 
ander Johnson;  Edward,  born  January  30,  1831, 
married  Elizabeth  Comegys,  and  had  issue;  Harriet, 
who  married  Dr.  D.  A.  Harrison;  Edward,  who  died 
young;  Sarah;  and  Henry,  who  married  Mabel  Lloyd 
Fisher. 

Henry  Ridgely,  Jr.,  a  son  of  this  last  union,  and 
seventh  in  descent  from  the  founder  of  the  family,  is 
the  present  occupant  of  the  Ridgely  House,  of  Dover, 
and  continues  the  family  tradition  of  either  law  or 
medicine  by  being  a  follower  of  the  former  profession. 


STEWART  HOUSE 

NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE 

VAN  DYKE— DU  PONT— JANVIER— LAMBSON— 
STEWART 


^  CROSS  Delaware  Avenue  from 
the  Amstel  House,  New  Castle, 
Delaware,  is  the  David  Stewart 
House,  a  quaint  and  charming  old 
mansion  built  by  Governor  Van 
Dyke  for  his  son.  Senator  Van 
Dyke,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  It  is  three  stories  in  height  and  the 
front  doorway  is  approached  by  a  high  flight  of  brown- 
stone  steps.  Dr.  David  Stewart,  the  present  owner  and 
occupant,  is  the  fifth  of  his  name  in  New  Castle  and  the 
fifth  of  his  name  to  be  a  physician. 

The  house  is  simple  in  exterior  and  is  more  attractive 
for  its  charm  of  aspect  than  for  pretension  of  size  or 
design.  The  rooms  of  the  interior  have  lofty  ceilings, 
are  well  lighted  and  have  good  proportions.  Down- 
stairs there  is  a  quantity  of  fine  w^ood-carving  in  a  floral 
design,  especially  in  the  dining-room.  A  broad  hall 
runs  from  the  front  door  to  the  back  of  the  house. 

Senator  Van  Dyke,  for  whom  the  mansion  was 
built,  was  born  in  1770  in  his  father's  home,  the  Amstel 
House.  He  was  educated  in  Philadelphia  and  studied 
law  in  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  Kensey  Johns.  Though 
an  attorney  by  profession  he  was  a  public  man  by  avoca- 

291 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

tion,  and  spoke  for  his  state  in  the  Halls  of  Congress 
for  many  years.  He  died  in  1826  on  the  eve  of  re- 
election to  the  United  States  Senate.  Contemporary 
records  of  him  and  traditions  speak  of  him  as  a  man  of 
most  delightful  personality,  known  for  the  charm  of  his 
manner  and  his  fine  intellectual  attainments. 

Upon  the  death  of  Senator  Van  Dyke,  the  home  fell 
to  the  lot  of  his  daughter,  Dorcas,  who  married  Charles 
Irence  Du  Pont.  Dorcas'  sister,  Susannah,  married  Dr. 
David  Stewart,  the  grandfather  of  the  present  occupant. 

From  the  family  of  Charles  I.  DuPont  the  mansion 
passed  by  purchase  in  1856  to  George  Janvier,  Esq., 
whose  name  is  to  be  associated  with  the  early  days  of 
transportation  in  Delaware,  records  of  Delaware  fre- 
quently speaking  of  Janvier's  "  Union  Line  "  of  coaches 
and  boats  which  bore  passengers  from  New  Castle  and 
Wilmington  to  Philadelphia.  About  twenty  years 
later  the  house  was  sold  by  Mrs.  Mary  Janvier,  widow  of 
George  Janvier,  to  Mrs.  Hannah  M.  Lambson,  who 
shortly  sold  to  the  present  owner,  Dr.  David  Stewart. 

The  first  David  Stewart  in  New  Castle  was  the 
donor  of  the  ground  on  which  Saint  George's  Presby- 
terian church  was  established,  and  ever  since  his  day 
there  has  been  a  Dr.  David  Stewart  who  was  ruling 
elder  of  the  congregation.  The  present  Dr.  David 
Stewart  has  a  son,  David,  who  married  Louise  Mc- 
Ilvaine  and  a  grandson  of  the  family  patronymic.  His 
other  children  are  Dorothy,  Henry  Van  Dyke,  and 
Ruth  Elizabeth  (Stewart). 


54 


ENTRANCE  TO  THOMAS  HOLbE 


THOMAS  HOUSE 

NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE 

THOMAS— READ— THOMAS 


)HE  Thomas  House  at  the  inter- 
section of  Harmony  Street  and 
the  Strand,  New  Castle,  Dela- 
ware, is  of  value  not  only  for  its 
own  intrinsic  charm  but  for  its 
association  with  families  which 
have  done  much  for  the  state  of 
Delaware  and  for  the  nation.  It  was  built  by  Dr. 
William  W.  Thomas  about  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  and  gains  interest  from  having  long  been 
the  home  of  Mr.  William  Thompson  Read,  a  grandson 
of  George  Read,  the  signer,  who  married  Miss  Sallie 
Latimer  Thomas,  a  daughter  of  the  builder. 

The  house  is  three  stories  in  height  and  is  rather 
narrow  for  its  height.  It  overlooks  the  low  roofs  of  the 
little  houses  which  make  up  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Strand  and  has  thus  a  wide  view  of  the  Delaware  River 
and  the  water-front  of  the  historic  little  city  in  which  it 
is  situated.  Perhaps  the  most  distinguished  single 
feature  is  the  doorway  on  Harmony  Street,  which, 
while  simple  in  design,  is  remarkable  for  the  intricate 
and  beautifully  executed  carving  with  which  it  is 
adorned. 

William  Thompson  Read  was  born  August  22, 1792, 
the  son  of  George  Read,  the  second,  and  his  wife  Mary 

293 


COLONIAL  MANSIONS  OF  DELAWARE 

Thompson  (Read),  daughter  of  Gen.  William  Thomp- 
son, of  near  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.  A  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession, he  had  rare  social  gifts  and  was  known  for  his 
charm  of  manner.  He  was  Grand  Master  of  the 
Masons  of  Delaware  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Delaware  Historical  Society.  After  his  death  in  1873, 
the  house  passed  to  his  wife's  niece,  Miss  Eliza  Thomas, 
who  at  her  decease  in  recent  years  left  it  to  the  Episco- 
pal church  at  New  Castle  to  be  used  as  a  Parish  house. 


INDEX 


Acosta,  127 

Acquasco,  10 

Addison,  67 

Alford,  286,  288 

American  Historical  Register,  279, 
280 

Amstel  House,  247,  249,  291 

Anderson,  165 

Andrews,  100 

Annapolis,  3,  4,  5,  6,  15,  16,  18,  19, 
21,  24,  25,  27,  28,  29,  30,  31,  34,  36, 
37,  38,  42,  45,  49,  50,  51,  52,  53, 
55,  56,  58,  60,  61,  65,  68,  70,  72, 
73,  76,  77,  83,  89,  101,  107,  116, 
117,  118,  166,  167,  168,  170,  174, 
177,  179,  180,  181,  188,  191,  201, 
202,  204,  218,  219,  222,  243 

Anne  Arundel,  35,  76,  101,  108, 
109,  113,  138,  144,  152,  153,  218 

Anne,  Queen  of  England,  225 

Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  118 

Armstrong,  212 

Assembly,  158 

Association  of  Freemen,  208 

Athens  of  America,  166 

Avalon,   166,  171 

Bald  Eagles,  10 

Baldwin,  23,  108 

BaU,  128 

Baltimore  Co.,  125,  131,  133,  216, 
218,  219 

Baltimore,  Lord,  51,  82,  83,  84,  85, 
115,  116,  118,  156,  162,  184,  186, 
188,  197,  198,  204,  212,  237 

Bancroft,  129 

Banning,  280,  285,  286,  288 

Barrett,  285 

Bayard,  259 

Beane,  183 


Belair,  199,  200,  201,  202 

Behnont,  10,  166,  168,  171,  172,  173, 

174,  175,  176,  177,  179,  180,  182 
Belmont  Hall,  10 
Belvidere,  122 

Belvoir,  218,  219,  220,  223,  224 
Bennett,  207 
Berkeley  Co.,  182 
Berry's  Range,  263 
Best,  47 

Beverly,  232,  234 
Bird,  104 

Birmingham,  8,  89,  101,  102,  103,  104 
Birnie,  70 

Biscoe,  191,  193,  196 
Bishop  of  Maryland,  33 
Black,  125,  126 
Bladen,  203 
Bladensburg,  48,  49 
Blake,  129,  206,  208 
Blakeford,   205,   206,   207,   208,  209, 

210 
Blakeman,  88,  95 
Bland,  36,  42 
"Bloody  Buoy,"  181 
Bloomfield,  217 
Bloomingdale,    211,    212,    213,    214, 

215 
Boarman,  104,  242 
Bogardus,  258 
Boiling,  96,  100 
Bonaparte,  123,  124 
Bond,  238,  244,  272,  276 
Booker,  255 
Bordley,  40,  72,  73 
Boswell,  84 
Boucher,  65 
Bowen,  236 
Bowie,  94,  199,  203 
Bowles,  235,  236,  237 


295 


INDEX 


Bowles'  Separation,  237 

Bradford,  261 

Brandywine,  180,  289 

Brent,  118 

Brewster,  182 

Brice,  31,  36,  45,  47,  48,  49,  50,  72, 

108,  187,  220 
Brice  House,  36,  45,  48,  60,  59,  72 
Brinckloe,  273 
Briscoe,  10,  235,  239 
"  British     Architects,     or     Builders 

Treasury,"  5 
British  Museum,  5 
Broad  Neck,  242 
Brooke,  102,  116,  118 
Brookefield,  10 
Brown,  108 
Buchanan,  173 
Buckley,  76 
Bulfinch,  16 

Burleigh,  105,  106,  107,  109 
Burnham,  249 
Bushby  Park,  99 

Caesar,  274 

Cadwalader,  252,  283 

Caile,  147 

CaldweU,  263 

Callahan,  35 

Calvert,  63,  158,  184,  186,  187,  188, 

189,   190,   191,   192,   193,   194,   196, 

198,   287 
Cambridge,  87 
Capitol  Hotel,  273 
Capron,  93,  94 
Cardinal  Gibbons,  112 
Carnan,  133 
CarroU,  65,   110,  111,  112,  113,  114, 

115,   116,   117,   118,   119,   120,   121, 

122,  123,   124,   126,   127,   128,   129, 

130 


Carroll  Mansion,  116,  117,  121 

Carroll  Park,  180 

Carrollton,    65,    110,    113,    114,    117, 

120,  121 
Carter,  193,  203 
Carvel,  18 

Caton,  123,  124,  125 
Catonsville,  123 
CecU  Co.,  118,  142 
Cedar  Park,  144,  145,  146,  147 
Chadwick,  183 
Chamberlaine,    150,    189,    225,    226, 

227,  229,  231 
Chancellors  Hope,  10 
Chaptico,  240,  244 
Charles  I,  107,  108 
Charles  II,  115,  198,  232 
Charles  Co.,  10,  178,  179,  241 
Chase,  6,  7,  15,  16,  18,  19,  20,  21,  22, 

23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  33,  35,  36, 

66,   180,  220,  265 
Chase  House,  15,  23,  24,  25,  27,  33, 

35,  36 
Cherokee  Indians,  62 
Chesapeake  Bay,  1,  15,  78,  140,  166, 

211,  228 
Chesterfield,  203 

Chester  River,  161,  162,  205,  208 
Chestertown,  142,  209 
Cheston,  141,  142,  146 
Cheston-on-Wye,  210 
Chew,  38,  39,  43,  121,  122,  127,  141, 

142,  220,  279,  280 
Chollar,  95 

Christ  Church  graveyard,  271 
Church  of  England,  20,  262 
Cincinnati,  Society  of,  41 
Claiborne,  206 
Clark,  137 
Claude,  68,  71,  221 
Clay,   176 


296 


INDEX 


Cleveland,  Pres.,  169 

Clivedon,  39,  122,  141,  280 

Closson,  34 

Clynmalyra,  114 

Coale,  101 

Coates,  104,  243 

Cobbett,  181 

Coburn,  228,  229 

College  of  Phila.,  180 

Colonial  Dames,  224 

Comegys,  286,  290 

Committee  of  Safety,  107 

Conrad,  216,  218 

Constitutional    Convention    of   Del., 

273 
Contee,  96,  99,  100,  179,  180,  183 
Continental  Army,  242 
Continental   Assembly,  40 
Continental    Congress,    23,    42,    158, 

179,  182 
Cole,  58 
Colston,  182 
Cookson,  141 
Corbit  House,  11 
Councilman,  217 
Couper,  264,  265 
"  Coursey's  Neck,"  207,  208 
Couwenhoven,  259 
Covell  Place,  263 
Covington,  156,  157 
Cowgill  House,  10 
Cowman,  101,  102 
Crabbe,  102 
Cremona,  244 
Cromwell,  100,  109 
Croome,  184,  189 
Crosiadore,  251,  262 
Culbreth,   261 
Cumberland,  240 
Custis,  65,  66,  184,  190,  191,  192 


Dairy  Farm,  10 

Darnall,  116,  119,  121,  189 

David  Stewart  House,  291 

Davis,  76,  96 

Davitz,  269 

Declaration  of  Independence,  23  36, 

120,  121,  220,  249,  265,  277,  278 
De  Courcy,  205,  206,  207,  208,  209, 

210,  214 
Deep  Falls,  240,  241,  242,  243 
De  Kay,  259 
Delaware  Bay,  3,  261 
Delaware  R.,  177,  293 
Dennis,  232,  234 
Dickinson,  251,  252,  253,  254 
Dickinson  College,  262,  285 
Dickinson  House,  251,  253 
Dieudonne,  49 
Digges,  188 

Dinner  Club  of  Congress,  265 
Discovery,  150 
D.  of  C,  159 
Donaldson,  174 
Dorchester  Co.,  10,  147 
Dorsey,   36,   77,   133,   134,   166,   168, 

169,  171,  172,  173,  174,  180,  220 
Dougherty,  126 
Doughoregan  Manor,  110,  112,  113, 

117,   118,   119,   121,   123,   124,   126, 

127,  128,  129 
Douglass,  168,  159,  160 
Dover,  4,  257,  258,  260,  261,  266,  270, 

272,  274,   279,  281,   285,  286,  287, 

288,  290 
Drummond,  209 
Dublin  U.,  69 
Duck  Creek  Town,  270 
Duddington,  116 
Dudley,  211,  213,  215 
Dulany,  183 


297 


INDEX 


du  Pont,  287,  289,  291,  292 
Duvall,  184,  190,  196,  198 

Eagle's  Nest  Bay,  220 

Easterday,  104 

Eastern   Shore,   148,    153,   157,    161, 

208,  209,  210,  225 
Easton,  148,  164,  251,  260 
Eddis,  52,  56,  83 
Eden,  40,  69,  86 
Eden  HiU,  271,  272 
Edgar,  62 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  178 
Elizabeth  River,  152 
Elk  Ridge,  166,  167,  169,  172,  173 
EUenborough,  10 
EUicott  City,  105,  110 
Ely  O'CarroU,  114 
Emerson,  125,  260 
L'Enfant,  197,  198 
Enfield  Chase,  114 
"Entailed  Hat,  The,"  11 
Episcopal  Church,  33,  180,  262,  286 
Essex,  Earl  of,  203 
Essex,  Lady,  61 
Expectation,  221 

Fairfax,  97,  99 

Fairlands,  104 

"Father  of  Chancery,"  274 

Federal  Constitution,  158 

"Federal  Republican,"  181 

Fenwick's  Manor,  237 

Finney,  151 

Fisher,  50,  269,  290 

Fitzhugh,  192,  220,  238 

Five  Nations,  207 

Folly  Quarter,  125,  126 

Fontainebleau,  62 

Forrest,  238 

Fort  Washington,  179 


Fox,  62 

Franklin,  25,  173 

Frederick,  105,  110,  112,  182 

Frederick  Co.,  66,  69,  115,  182 

Frederick,  Prince,  204 

French,  271 

Friends,  140,  141,  142,  146,  147,  226 

GaUoway,    101,    138,    141,    142,    144, 

146,  147 
Garst,  34 
George  III,  204 
Georgetown  College,  128 
Gibbons,  112 
Gibson,  74,  148,  151 
Giles,  23 

Girard  College,  247 
Glyndon,  216 
Goldsborough,  67 
Goodwin,  173 
Gordon,  182,  187 
Grange,  The,  260 
Grason,  33 
Green,  56,  58,  59 
Green,  The,  266,  267 
Greenberry,  86,  221,  270 
Greenberry  Forest,  221 
Greenberry  Point,  270 
Green  Spring  Valley,  125,  232 
Grelland's,  289 
Grosvenor,  181 

Habersham,  71 

Halifax  Co.,  177 

HaU,  9,  10,  35,  108 

Hamilton,  273 

Hammond,  15,  19,  27,  28,  29,  30,  31, 

32,  33,  36,  49,  86,  89,  105,  107,  108, 

109,  173,  189,  218,  220 
Hammond  House,  15,  27,  28,  29,  30, 

32,  33,  34,  89 


298 


INDEX 


Hampton,    131,    132,    133,    134,    136, 

13(i,  137,  173,  180 
Hancock,  120 
Hanson,  109,  135,  166,  174,  175,  176, 

177,  179,  180,  181,  182,  183 
Hanson's   Laws,   180 
Hardcastle,  225,  231 
Harford  Co.,  39 
Harper,  124,  182 
Harris,  211,  212,  213,  214,  215 
Harris'  MiU,  212 
Harrison,  290 
Harvard  Law  School,  128 
Harwood,  15,  24,  27,  28,  33,  34,  35 
Hathaway,  148,  151 
Hatton,  116,  178 
Hatton  Hall,  178 
Hawkins,  183,  244 
Hay,  9,  247,  248,  249,  260 
Heath,  218 
Hemsley  Farm,  216 
Henrietta  Maria,  Queen,  129,  155 
Henry  I,  King,  226 
Herbert,  90,  96,  109 
Herman,  258 
Hermitage,  133 
Herrington,  38 
Hervey,  124 
Hill,  93,  94,  168,  170 
His  Lordship's  Kindness,  188 
Hobbs,  33 

Hockley-in-the-Hole,  169,  170,  171 
HoUyday,    148,    149,    150,    157,    161, 

162,  163,  164 
Homestead,  123 
Homewood,  122,  123,  127 
Hood,  21,  218,  219 
Hood's  Mill,  218 
Hooff,  93,  96,  97,  100,  109 
Hopkins,  103 
Honeywood,  182 


House  of  Burgesses,  49,  152 
Howard,  1,  9,  122,  134,  135,  136,  180, 

220,  221 
Howard  Co.,  11,  23,  67,  76,  99,  104, 

105,  108,  110,  113,  124,  125,  166 
Howard's  Pasture,  221 
Hudson  River,  259 
Hughes,  138,  143,  194 
"  Hundred  of  Leyland,"  220,  221 
Hungerford,  194 
Husting,  21 
Hyatt,   10 
Hyde,  188,  189 


Ilchester,  Earl  of,  62 
Indian  Town,  161 
Ingles,   279,  280 
Ingraham,  252 
Irons,  263 
Iroquois,  207 
Isham,  182 
Ivy  Neck,  143 


Jackson,  21,  252 

Jacobins,  181 

James  I,  107 

Jamestown,  38 

Jansen,  258 

Janvier,  291,  292 

Jefferson,  209,  281 

Jenifer,  65,  66 

Jenings,  45,  47,  48,  101 

Jenkins,  88,  93,  94,  95,  290 

Johns,  1,  255,  291 

Johns  Hopkins,  122,  239,  255 

Johnson,  84 

Jones,  269 

Joppa,  218 

Judkins,  194 


299 


INDEX 


Kay,  183 

Kennedy,  36,  42 

Kensey  Johns  House,  255 

Kent  Co.,  Delaware,  251,  252,  253, 

263,  266,  271,  274,  276,  276,  281, 

286 
Kent  Co.,  Md.,  161,  207,  209 
Kent  Island,  178 
Ketin,  260 

Key,  10,  68,  70,  71,  219,  224,  238 
King's  Highway,  266 
King  Williams  School,  52 
Knapp,  76 
Kneller,  82 
Knickerbocker,  268 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  172,  282,  283 

Lambson,  291,  292 

Langdon,  128 

Latrobe,  121 

Laurel,  88,  101,  103,  167 

Laurel  Hill  Cemetery,  261 

Lawrence,  146 

Lee,  127,  183,  193,  198 

Lee  House,  10 

Lehr,  216,  217,  218 

Lewes,  278 

Lewis,  192 

Liancourt,  282 

Ligon,  67 

Lingan,  183 

Lippincott's  Magazine,  43 

Litterlouna,  114 

Lloyd,  15,  19,  20,  23,  24,  28,  29,  35,  38, 

65,    129,    134,    152    163,    154,    155, 

156,   157,   158,   159,   161,  162,   164, 

165,  227,  269 
Lockerman  or  Loockerman,   27,   28, 

31,  33,  34,  35,  231,  257,  268,  259, 

260,  261,  262,  263,  273 


Loockerman  House,  257,  268 

Logan,  263 

Long  Run,  208 

Lord  High  Chancellor,  178 

Love,  83,  84 

Lowe's  Addition,  221 

Lowndes,  202 

Maconchie,  178 

MacTavish,  125,  126 

McCarty,  58 

McCawley,  102 

McDowell,  181 

McFadon,  103 

Mcllvaine,  292 

Madison,  108 

Magruder,  202 

Maidstone,  38 

Markoe,  138,  142 

Marlborough,  Duchess  of,  45,  47 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  40 

Marshall,  99 

Martin,  39,  49 

Maryland    Gazette,    52,    56,    68,    85, 

187 
Maryland   Journal   and   Advertiser, 

186 
Masons,  Grand  Master  of,  294 
Maltaponi,  10 
Maxcey,  138,  142 
Mayer,  103 
Mayflower,  182 
Maynadier,  219,  220 
Meredith,  275 
Meredith  Cove,  78 
Methodists,  133 
Mifflin,  74,  290 
Minute  Men,  209 
Mohawk  Indians,  259 
Montmorenci,  9,  216,  217,  218 


800 


INDEX 


Montpelier,   68,   88,   89,   91,  92,   93, 

94,  99,  102,  104 
Moody,  249 

Moore,  167,  168,  256,  274 
Morgan,  235 
Morris,  193 
Mott,  286,  287 
Mount  Airy,  184,  185,  188,  189,  191, 

193,  194,  196,  198 
Mount  Saint  Mary's  School,  128 
Mount  Vernon,  184 
Mount  Vernon  Place,  215 
Murfreesboro,  battle  of,  183 
Murray,  138,  141,  143,  146,  173 
"My  Lord's  Gift,"  207,  208 
Myrtle  Grove,  10 

Naval  Acad.,  15,  204,  221 

Needwood,  127 

Neth,  36,  42 

New  Anisterdam,  258,  259 

Newcastle,   247,   248,   249,   255,  256, 

264,  265,  271,  291,  292,  293,  294 
Nichols,  227 
NichoUs,  99 
Noming  Hall,  203 

Oakdale,  10 

Oakland,  124 

Oaklands,  93,  96,  99,  102 

Ogden,  284 

Ogle,  60,  61,  64,  66,  67,  70,  86,  87, 

200,  201,  202,  203,  204 
Old  Windsor,  219 
Orleans,  282 
Oxford,  Md.,  226 
Oxford  University,  61 

Paca,  1,  31,  36,  37,  38,  39,  40,  41,  42, 

43,  44 
Paca  House,  36 
Pardoe,  14 


Palmer,  254 

Pamonky,   10 

Parke,  273 

Parker,  100,  138,  143 

Parliament,  207 

Patapsco    River,  166,  167,  168,  171 

Patterson,  123,  124,  126 

Patuxent    River,  89,    101,    186,   187, 

235,  237,  242,  244 
Peach  Blossoms,  226 
"Peggy  Stewart,"  142 
Pendenny,  221 
Pendleton,  88,  95 
Penn,  156,  268,  269 
Perry,  161,  163 
Peyton,  289 
Phelps,  112,  127,  128 
Physick,  243 
Pickering,  173 
Pickford,  193 

Pinkney,  7,  27,  28,  31,  32,  33 
Plain    Dealing,   225,    226,    227,    228, 

229,  230,  231 
Plantagenets,   221 
Plater,  235,  237,  238,  239 
Plimhimmon,  10 
Plymouth,  182 
Poconoke,  226,  232 
Poluyanski,  219,  222 
Poplar  Hill,  10 
Porter,  261 
Portland  Manor,  116 
Portobello,  10 
Potomac  River,  66      / 
Powell,  57,  194 
Powlett,  85 

Presque  Isle,  Lake  Erie,  283 
Primrose,  42 
Prince  George's  Co.,  68,  88,  91,  96, 

99,    101,    114,    116,    146,    184,    189, 

199,  202 


301 


INDEX 


Printz,  177 

Pritchard,  101 

Providence,  162 

Provincial  Conventions,  157 

Pryor,  260 

Pue,  173 

Puritan,  51,  52,  162 

Quaker,  92,  140,  156,  157,  280 

Quatrebeau,  46 

Queen  Anne's  Co.,  10,  134,  157,  161, 

162,   165,  205,  209,  210,  211,  212, 

213,  215 
Queenstown,  209,  211,  212 
Queenstown  Creek,  205,  207,  208 

Rand,  127 

Randall,  4,  25,  72,  73,  76,  76 

Randall  House,  72,  76 

Ranelagh,  10 

Rastrick  de,  177 

RatcliflFe  Manor,  148,  149,  150,  151, 

162 
Read,  264,  265,  293 
Readbourne,  148,  157,  161,  162,  163, 

164 
Read  House,  264,  265 
Redemptorist  Order,  116,  117 
Relay,  173 
Rewes,  242 
Richardson,  129,  141 
Ridgely,  1,  6,  23,  124,  131,  133,  134, 

135,   136,   173,   180,  220,  266,  267, 

268,   269,   270,   271,   272,   273   274, 

275,   280,   281,   282,  283,  285,  286, 

287,  288,  289,  290 
Ridgely   House,  266,  267,  273,  274, 

281,  283,  290 
Ridout,  15,  24,  25,  60,  61,  62,  63,  64, 

65,  66,  67,  72,  77,  80,  86 
Ridout  House,  60,  64,  72 


Ringgold,   142 

Riverdale,  193 

Robb,  49 

Robbins,  128 

Robins,  148,  149,  162,  226 

Rodin,  50 

Rodney,  249,  256,  265,  271,  273,  274, 

275,  276,  277,  278,  279,  280,  283, 

284 
Rolling  Road,  172 
Rose  Hill,  10 
Ross,  69,  219 

Rousley,  186,  237,  238,  239 
Roubelle,  43,  44 
Rozier,  116 
Rutland,  104 

St.  Ann's  Church,  107 

St.  Anthony's  Chapel,  129 

St.  Aubin,  164 

St.  John's  College,  181,  219,  243 

St.  Jones'  Creek,  251,  263 

St.  Jones'  Neck,  275 

St.  Mary's  Co.,  10,  48,  116,  133,  178, 

219,  235,  240,  241,  242,  243,  244 
St.  Matthew's  Church,  129 
St.  Michaels,  159 
St.  Thomas'  Church,  189 
Saint  Anne's  Church,  16 
Saint  Anne's  Parish,  187 
Saint  Cuthbert's,  10 
Saint  George's  Presbyterian  Church, 

292 
Saint  Inigoes,  133 
Saint  Margarets,  77 
Sandy  Point,  77 
Sandy  Spring,  102 
Satterlee,  235,  239 
Schaaf,  36,  42 
Scharf,  263,  272 
Scott,  61,  68,  69,  70,  71 


302 


INDEX 


Scott  House,  68,  69,  71 

Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Phila., 

261 
Seth's  Mills,  213 
Severn  River,  8,  37,  70,  107,  218,  219, 

221 
Sewall,  118 
Sharpy,  8,  26,  60,  61,  63,  64,  66,  67, 

69,   70,  77,  78,  79,  80,  81,  83,  84, 

85,  86 
Sharpe's  Island,  228 
Sheffy,  183 
Shurmer,  263 
Sherwood,  33 
Shields,  285 

Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  68,  71 
Skidmore,  273 
Smith,  264,  265,  285 
Smyrna,  11 
Snowden,   8,   88,  89,  91,   92,  93,  94, 

96,  99,  100,  101,  102,  103,  104 
Snowden  Hall,  103 
Somerset,  156,  232 
Somerville,  238 
Sons  of  Liberty,  21,  40,  142 
Sothoron,  244 
Sotterly,  235,  236,  239 
South  River,  220 
South  River  Battalion,  35 
Spa  Creek,  17 
Sprigg,  65,  146,  147,  173 
Spring  Garden,  135 
Stamp  Act,  22,  85,  142 
Stamp  Act  Congress,  276 
Stanley,  103 

Star  Spangled  Banner,  219 
State  Assemblies,  273 
Staunton,  127,  128 
Stemmer,  8 
Stenton,  248 
Stephen,  48,  49 


Sterrett,  216 

Steuart,  147,  186,  191,  193,  194 

Stewart,  65,  266,  291,  292 

Stier,  191 

Stockett,  25 

Stockton,  256 

Stony  Point,  282 

Story,  77,  87 

Strangways,  62 

Stuart,  134,  191,  193 

Stuyvesant,  259 

Success  Farm,  10 

Summer  Hill,  220 

Sussex  Co.,  Del,,  278 

Swan,  5 

Swann,  36,  42 

Talbot  Co.,  10,  33,  41,  76,  140,  162, 

155,   162,   164,  209,  212,  225,  227, 

229,  251 
Tankerville,  226 
Tasker,  64,  200,  202 
Taylor.  88,  95,  127 
Thorn,  205,  210 
Thomas,  92,  93,  100,   102,   182,   183, 

236,   237,  240,   241,  242,  243,  244, 

293,  294 
Thomas  House,  293 
Thompson,  127,  128 
Thornton,  59 

Three  Graces  of  America,  111,  124 
Tilden,  290 

Tilghmann,  43,  134,  150,  162 
Tilghman  Fortune,  150 
ToUey,  216 
Tonoloway,  66 
Towson,  131 

Tred  Avon  River,  148,  225 
Tred  Haven,  156 
Trent  Hall,  244 
Tubman,  244 


303 


INDEX 


Tucker,  127 

Tudor  HaU,  10 

Tuesday  Club,  67 

Tulip    Hill,   6,    138,    139,    140,    141, 

142,  143,  144,  267 
Turkey  Park,  160 
Tyson,  103 

Union  Line,  S99 

United  Ck)lonies  of  America  in  Con- 
gress Assembled,  277 
University  of  Pa.,  181 
Upper  Marlboro,  183 

Van  Courtlandt,  268 

Van  Courtlandt  Manor,  258 

Van  Dyke,  248,  249,  291,  292 

Vasa,  177 

Verplank,  259 

Victoria,  Queen  of  England*  159 

Vincent,  258 

Vineyard,  the,   76 

Vining,  268,  271,  272,  279,  280,  281, 

282,  283,  284 
Vonschroder,  88,  90,  95 

Wales,  84 

Wallace,  180 

Wallis,  211,  213,  215 

Walnut  Grange,  93 

Wardridge,  270 

Warfield,  11,  21,  47,  76,  94,  99,  104, 

113,   120,   121,  220 
Washington,  Booker  T.,  159 
Washington  Geo.,  23,  41,  42,  47,  55, 

65,  80,  88,  117,  122,  128,  173,  180, 

184,  185,  191,  265 
Washington's  Life  Guards,  179 
Wasp,  the,  269 
Waterloo,  124 
Waters,  100 
Watkins,  35 


Wayne,  282,  283 

Weightman,  183 

Welcome,  The,  269 

Wellesley,  Marquis  of,  124 

Wellington,  124 

West,  162 

Westonholme  or   Wostenholme,   63, 

64 
West   River,  6,   100,   138,   139,   141, 

143,  144,  145,  146,  168,  171,  267 
White,  135,  136 
White  Banks,  208 
Whitehall,  8,  25,  26,  66,  67,  77,  78, 

80,  81,  83,  86,  87 
White  House,  169,  185 
Whitham,  134 
Whitridge,  182,  183 
Whittingham,  214 
Whyte,  33 
Wilcox,  196 

William  and  Mary's  College,  237 
Wilmington,  Del.,  261,  282,  283,  284, 

285,  292 
WUson,  194 
Wilson  House,  11 
Wiltshire,  146 
Winans  Cove,  130 
Winthrop,   120 
Wolfe,  70 

Woodward,  199,  200,  202 
Worthington,    9,    25,    49,    174,    216, 

217,  218,  219,  220,  221,  223,  271 
Worthington  Valley,  9,  216 
Wright,  102,  205,  208,  209,  210 
Wye  House,  19,  23,  41,  43,  134,  152, 

163,  154,  156,  167,  158,  159,  162 
Wye  Island,  76 
Wye  Mills,  212 
Wye  River,  154 
Wynhoop,  274,  281 

Yale  College,  261 


304 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 
Architecture  &  Urban  Planning  Library,  825-2747. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


JIOJIOI 

MAY  11  1991 
JUN  0^199' 


PSD  2339  9/77 


UCLA-AUPL 

F  182  H22 1914 


DNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY  l  005  856  770  2 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A  A      000  083  559   5 


>:-:•.;" ..;  ^:^^:":'>^  •"'■'7'>v  ax^-VV)  'f^ 


